


Ariel

by lydiamxrtin



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - No Werewolves, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Cocky Stiles Stilinski, F/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Slow Burn Lydia Martin/Stiles Stilinski, but its not explicit, mentions of abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-05
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-04-19 02:33:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 48,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4729445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lydiamxrtin/pseuds/lydiamxrtin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Due to her mothers new job, Lydia Martin is forced to uproot her perfect life and move to Beacon Hill, a small quite town where know one knows her, the move bringing up old feelings and question Lydia has pushed down. She hates it. On her first day she meets Stiles Stilinksi, the boy with whiskey eyes and a cocky smile, that hides a dark secret.  Can Stiles help Lydia answer questions she's had all her life? Can Lydia break through Stiles high walls and finally get him to open up and tell what he's been hiding for so long. Pushed together the pair will learn to love the town they both can't wait to leave.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Day Of School

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so this is my first fic so I guess we'll see how this goes! Hope you guys enjoy this! Stydia are such a great pairing and I hope I do them justice! This chapter will change between Stiles and Lydia's perspective. There is no mention of abuse in this chapter, and won't appear until later on. I will put a warning in the notes when it appears incase it tiggers anyone! 
> 
> Next chapter will be updated soon! Please feel free to leave comments :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this is my first fic so I guess we'll see how this goes! Hope you guys enjoy this! Stydia are such a great pairing and I hope I do them justice! This chapter will change between Stiles and Lydia's perspective. There is no mention of abuse in this chapter, and won't appear until later on. I will put a warning in the notes when it appears incase it triggers anyone!
> 
> Next chapter will be updated soon! Please feel free to leave comments :)
> 
> P.S I

Lydia looked into her mirror, her strawberry locks hiding her shoulders. She stood in a pair of grey shorts, a long grey top that came down to her knees and white socks that came just up to her lower knee. She sighed, in her mirror reflection she could she her open wardrobe, clothes covering the floor like her wardrobe had exploded. She had spent the hour trying to decide what to wear for school the next day. A blue dress that came down to her thighs, navy flowers covering it? A brown leather skirt with a blue blouse? A multicoloured flower prink skirt and a pastel pink cami top? She knew she looks fabulous in everything, (she _was_  Lydia Martin after all) but she was nervous. A new school, a new home and a new city. Lydia hated it.

Since her mother got a new job in Beacon hills Lydia was forced to uproot her perfect life and move to the no so perfect beacon hills. Her mother had decided to come to Beacon Hills a week before school started again, give Lydia time to adjust to the new place. She understood why her mother did it, she was thinking of Lydia, trying to make it easier for her, but it made it worse. She wanted to be angry at her mother, hate her for uprooting their lives, everything was perfect; she had great friends, great grades and great house. However she just couldn't bring herself to hate her mother. She understood the job was important to her. However, this move and new job awaken the question she always ask herself late at night, she resented the question, feeling childish for even thinking it, but she does. Lydia was due to start her new school tomorrow, and to say she wasn't looking forward to it was a understatement, at her old school Lydia was the Queen Bee, the ruler. People knew the name Lydia Martin, and they feared it. Here? She was just another name on the register, another girl. Lydia looked in the mirror for a finale time, she turned around, her hair swishing as she did, she looked at the mess on the floor, her brow furrowed, a sigh escaping her lips, she hated mess. She quickly gathered her clothes and put them back into her cupboard, finally decided on what to wear. Lydia sat on her bed and looked at her new room, smaller than her old one of course. The walls painted a deep lilac, except one which was a light cream. Above her bed, four connecting pictures that create a rose. Around her room were pictures of her old life, she couldn't decide wether she loved or hated it. Next her window was her wooden desk which has been painted white, a large mirror stood against the wall. On the left hand side, school book and notes covered it, Lydia had been studying before the clothes crisis consumed her, not that she needed to study, she was a genius, and she knew it. On the right Lydia's make-up lad out neatly. Lydia walks over to her bed and lies down, her head facing the photos on her wall, almost taunting her. Lydia knew she should be asleep, school started early but she couldn't. If she slept then she would be closer to starting her new school, meaning she would have to accept her knew life.

\---

A slam echoed through the house, the force in which Stiles had closed the door caused the house to shake. He paced in his room his hands shaking, the anger taking over. He walked passed his bed his eyes locking onto a book on his bed, before he knows it he's moved to the bed and throwing the book which collides with his wall, crashing too the floor. He hated Sunday's. They were the worst day of the week, family day at the house. Stiles lets a laugh escape his lips, _'family'_   he thinks, not sure he could call the people in this house family. Still breathing hard, Stiles slowly walks over, picking the book up and chucking it on his bed. Stiles takes a deep breath and wipes a hand down his face. Maybe he was over reacting, maybe it wasn't that bad? It could be worse he thinks. He walks over to his bed and sits down. Stiles walls are painted a dark blue, except from the one opposite the door which is white and large white wardrobes cover it. No pictures decorating his walls, just selves with various books. Facing his large double bed was a wall made up of windows, in front of this was Stiles Oak desk. On his desk he has pens and book scattered everywhere and four pictures; him and Scott during lacrosse, him and Allison at a party and the three of them at one of Stiles parties, his 16th? Scott and Allison are stiles best friends, he's known Scott since he was 10, the two boys practically growing up together. He met Allison when she joined beacon hills and started dating Scott. To begin with stiles was harsh on Allison, not because she wasn't nice or deserved it but he was so use to it being just him and scott, however over time stiles grew closer to Allison and soon the three of them became best friends. Scott and Allison bring the only two people he truly trust. The finale picture is of Stiles parents, the picture not in wooden frames like the other but in a silver frame, the words 'family' written across the bottom. Some days stiles loves the picture, wanting to take it everywhere with him and other days he hates it, wants to throw it and smash it. Today's the latter. Stiles finally lies back on his bed, staring at the celling, stiles closes his eyes. Most kids hate starting school again, but stiles, not stiles. Being in schools means he hasn't got to be here. 

\---

The sun rays consumed her room, piercing her eyes, she rolled over, a groan escaping her lips, she looked her to her bedside table, she grabbed her phone a with one eye checked the time, 6:00am, she groaned even louder, three hours still school. Crap. Lydia rolled out of bed and went into her bathroom. She jumped into her shower, the hot water making her relax instantly, the steam surrounding her, Lydia could stay in there for hours, but reality hit and she was forced to leave her private heaven. She went over to her cupboard and grabbed the outfit she had decided on last night. A grey skirt that came just above her knees and a navy blouse with a white lace collar, she then picked her favourite black boots and went downstairs for breakfast. After having two slices of French toast her mother had made and a cup of coffee Lydia grabbed her bag filled with texts books and notes, making the bag almost as heavy as her. she kissed her mother goodbye, wishing her luck for her new job and jumped into her car. While driving Lydia couldn't help but look at the streets she was passing, although she had been their for a week she hadn't ventured out to she where she would be spending the rest of her school life. The streets looked fairly empty, aside for kids her age walking to school or people driving to work. Beacon hills was very different from New York, no building stood in the clouds, taxis weren't racing by. It was quite. Lydia didn't hate it.

\----

Stiles rolls over in his bed, one eye slowly opening to read the clock; 8:30. Stiles rolls the the middle of the bed, looking up at the ceiling, stiles was definitely going to be late for school. Finally Stiles sits up on the bed with a grunt, the sheets falling into his lap. Stiles looks over at the school schedule pinned to his board; English, Chemistry. Not major subjects, stiles can afford to miss them. Stiles sighs, rubbing his eyes with his hands and then running them through his hair. He jumps up from the bed and goes into the bathroom. Stiles jumps in the shower, not staying in too long or he'd never leave. He opens his wardrobe, looking at the collection of clothes. He opts for a black pair of jeans and a white Hensley top, the sleeves rolled up. He throws on a pair of old convers. He walks over to his desk and stairs at the text book and notes on his table, not touched since he bought them, if everything goes to plan Stiles shouldn't be here for vey long, so whats the point in studying, he should be packing his things up and leaving this god forsaken town, never looking back. Stiles picks his backpack up and makes his way down stairs, the household silent. The rest of the house at work. Opting not to get breakfast stiles grabs the keys to his jeep and walks outside. He begins to think of excuses as to why he's not in; girl in bed? Sickness bug? In the end stiles goes with an old classic, over slept. Stiles drives down the street looking at the houses, waiting for it too appear, when it does Stiles smiles, memories filling his head. However this soon fades ones Stiles reaches his destination, good memories replaced by horrible ones. The jeep comes to a halt and stiles jumps out. It not like stiles wants to miss school but he promised himself that he'd come here on the first Monday of every month and that just happens to be today. Stiles pauses before opening the gate, taking a big breath of air stiles pushes the gate open, the smell of grass and mud hitting his senses. He hates it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to let me know what you guys thought? :)


	2. Girl with Strawberry hair and Boy with Whiskey eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lydia's first day at Beacon Hill High will have a drastic change on her life when she meet the cocky boy with Whiskey eyes. Stiles crappy day will go from bad to fascinating when he meets the girl with strawberry hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Chapter! The first 10 chapter are all ready so will be up in the next thew days, hope you guys are enjoying it! :)

Lydia pulled into the car park, grabbing her bag she began to walk to the entrance. "Beacon Hill High" a large stone sign read. Lydia walked up the steps and opened the door, a sea of people greeted her. She began her walk to the principles office, which was located at the end of the hallway. People stood and chatted, some leaning on lockers some the in the middle of the walk way. A couple stood in the centre directly in Lydia's way, she went to push pass, arms about to move the irrelevant coupe when she stopped herself. She could no longer do that, she wasn't Lydia Martin, genius that people feared. She was the new girl, and pushing people out the way was not the best way to start a new school, she opted to walk around the couple, her body rejecting the idea of doing so, Lydia martins does not move for people, they move for her.

She finally reached the principles office, gently knocking before going on. Inside sat a man behind a desk, whom she quickly decided was the principal and a girl sat opposite him. She had wavy brown hair just below her shoulders, Lydia entered the room and both stood up. "Ahh you must be Lydia, please come in" the principle greeted, he walked from around his desk, extending his hand "I'm the principle here at beacon hills high, we are very please to have you here" the man extended his hand with Lydia took. Shaking hands was never something Lydia enjoyed, having to shake the hands of everyone she meet at her mothers work events took any enjoyment out of the act, this time wasn't different. "Now I know you must be very nervous, starting a new school is a big deal so I've arranged for someone to look after you for today" Lydia had to hold back the need to roll her eyes, she didn't need to be taken care of. The man moved behind his desk again, taking a seat, "This here is Allison Argent, she joined us a year today and she settled very well, she will show you to your lessons and answer any questions you have" the girl, who's name she now knew as Alison stood up, she walked over to Lydia, a wide smile covering her face, she looked friendly and kind, Lydia instantly warmed to this girl.

"Hi, I'm Allison, nice to meet you Lydia" Allison spoke cheerfully while grabbing her bag. she held out her hand, Lydia sighed on the inside, was this going to be happening all day? Shaking hands with people? Allison seemed like a nice girl so Lydia retuned her hand shake, still uncomfortable with the act. "Well lesson are going to start soon, shall we head to out first lesson, chemistry I think?"

Lydia looked down at the schedule the school had mailed to her. "Yeah, chemistry, in C4?"

"Yeah that's just down the hall and then on the right, we will wall together" Allison has finished gathering her things the the girls left the room, they walked down the hall in silence before Allison spoke up "So where did you move from?"

"New York" Lydia replied, she wanted to be friendly after all the girl seemed nice but Lydia really didn't want to talk about her old life.

"Wow, I'd love to see New York, my family moved around a lot but sadly we never got to go there"

"It's a nice place" Lydia found her self reply, slight sadness filling her voice.

Allison seemed to pick up on this and thankfully to Lydia changed the subject, Lydia was starting to truly warm to this girl.

"So what do you think of beacon Hills?"

Lydia paused, what did she think of beacon hills? "It's peaceful, I haven't done much exploring yet, too busy unpacking" Lydia lies, too busy sulking is the truth. "But from what's I've seen its looks nice"

"It is" Allison replies, a smile growing on her face "I've been to a lot of places but this has to be my favourite, the people are great, there just so friendly and warm and welcoming. I've only been here a year but I feel like its my home, I could stay here forever" A blush forming on her cheeks, one Lydia recognises.

"What's his name?" Lydia asks, a smile appearing on her lips, the first real one since she's been here.

"Scott" Allison beams, her voice filling with happiness at the mention of his name."he such a nice guy, we meet when I first moved here and he was so sweet and kind, she stared dating like two days after, you have to meet him" Allison announces, suddenly Allison turns to Lydia, looking slightly worried "sorry I didn't mean to ramble, we've only just met and I'm forcing you to meet my boyfriend"

Lydia smiles "it's fine, he sounds like a great guy, I'd love to meet him" The girls both smile before turning the corner and entering the class room.

\---

The lesson went by relatively quickly, chemistry was always one of Lydia favourite subjects. The two girls leave the class next to each other, laughing. "Oh my god when you correct professor Jenkins on that mistake. I wish I had a camera to take a picture of his face" Allison giggles. Lydia laughs in response, the girls continue to walk down the hall heading to the cafeteria. During their lesson Allison has insisted that Lydia sit with her and Scott and their friends for lunch. "Their super great all of them, you'll love them" Allison reassures Lydia as the begin to sit in the empty lunch table. To be frank, Lydia wasn't that nervous, she knew people loved her. Girls wanted to be her and boys wanted to be under her. Fact.

"Shit!" Lydia suddenly yelled, causing Allison to jump slightly. "Sorry it's just I left my text book for Latin in the Chem class, I need it for next period"

"It's okay, we can go back and get it" Allison begins to get up from the table but Lydia puts a hand on her shoulder.

"No no no no, it's fine I'll just run and grab it, you stay here I'll be back in a minute"

Lydia grabs her bag and darts out of the lunch hall, she does a light sprint down the hall before opening the classroom down and going over to professors Jenkins desk to look for her text book. Lydia spends the next few minutes looking but is unable to find it. She stands back and sighs, placing her hands on her hips. "I'd check the shelf, if you leave it he keeps it" a husky voice announces from behind her. Lydia yelps and jumped before turing around too see who just scared to crap out of her. A boy, a tall boy stands leaving against the door frame, he looks about 5ft something, with a not too muscular build. He has dark brown hair that spikes up at different places and eyes that can only be described as honey or whiskey. He begins to walk into the class, holding his hands up in defences "didn't mean to scare you there, was just offering up some friendly advice" he walks past her looking at her was he does, he then goes over the shelf, pausing before picking up a book. "The Latin language, yours I amuse?" He says in a overly confident manner, holding the book up.

"Thanks" Lydia voices before going over to grab the book, when suddenly he holds above her head and walks around her.

"Thanks? That's all I get, common? Got to try a little harder there sweetheart" Lydia's brow furrows. "I'm sure there are other ways you could thank me for my gentleman ways" he replies, turning around to look at her, giving her a wink. Who the hell was this boy and what the hell did he think he was doing? Lydia's efforts of being polite and kind went out the window.

"Listen _**sweetheart**_ " her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I didn't even need to say Thankyou but I did because I'm a decent human being with manner, clearly something you need to learn" Lydia stepped closer to the boy, looking up at him, giving him the best "Lydia Martin" glare she could give "So I suggest oh give me back my book and we can all go on with out lives"

The boys just looks down at her, before leaning very close, close enough so she can feel his breath on her face, she feels very warm all of a sudden. "Feisty, I like it" he whispers before walking around her and sitting on the teachers desk. Lydia just stares at the boy, wondering if he is high on something, who in the rights of mind talks to another human like that, clearly this boy does and it infuriates her. She begins to walk over to the boy when he speaks up. "How can you even read this stuff I mean it's no fun at all" he says, sarcasm flowing out of his mouth.

"Well unlike you I actually have brain cells so can process information such as Latin" she almost yells her voice also flowing with sarcasm. When she reaches the boy she goes to grab her book but he's too quick standing and moving out of the way.

"What does 'amor vincit omnia' mean," he calmly states before walking over and sitting in a desk chair.

"Oh I mean 'give me back my book, _**douchbag**_ ' first thing we learn" a smirk speaks across her face as she leans on the desk, hands resting on each corner. They both lock eyes. His whiskey eyes look at her with full attention, as if he is studying her face, the deep green pools of her eyes, the small dimples in her checks when she smiles. The way her hair bounces when she moves. His eyes begin the trail down her face, examining her body, he finally speaks up, barley above a whisper. "Clever, witty and beautiful, seems like you have the full package"

Lydia feels her checks go a shade of red. Lydia retracts her hands. She turns around composing herself, a asshole just called her beautiful, why is she blushing?

"Make you a little flustered there ariel" she can practically hear the wink. 

Lydia turns around, clearly while she was composing herself she didn't hear him get up and stand directly I front of her, she stands forward closing the space between them. "Sweetheart, Replace the word flustered with disgusted and that's exactly how you make me feel" he looks at her, with the same intensity as before, she takes this opportunity to grab the book from his hand, a smug smile spreads across her face, she turns and grabs her bag and as she is about to leave when she finally realise what he said. She stood and turns looking straight at him.

"Did you just call me ariel?" He doesn't say anything, but begins to walk over to her, his body vey close to hers, obliviously this body doesn't understand personal space.

"Yeah I did" he states, as if she should understand.

Lydia is growing tired of this boy and his childish ways, she takes a step forward. "Why?" She asks in her most forceful tone.

He leans in again, so close Lydia can count the moles on his face, and smell him. He smells like grass and flowers, not what she was expecting. "Because you look like her, and she was a bit feisty too" the smirk reapers on his face and my god how she wants to smack it off, he winks before turning around and grabbing his bag before walking past her down the hall. She turns around watching him go. She sighs loudly and turns on her heels and walks out the class towards to lunch room but not before the boy calls out "it's was nice meeting you ariel"


	3. We Meet Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So thankyou again for the lovely comments, it really means so much to me! Heres the next chapter for you, enjoy more stydia interaction! ;)

Lydia finally makes it back into the luck hall, which is now crowded with people. She makes it past the swarm of people and finally finds Allison, who now has been joined by her friends; a guy with shaggy brown hair sat next to her, his face with puppy like features and a smile that almost reaches his eyes, a girl with long blond hair and a boy sat next to her with curly hair. "Lydia!" Allison yells waving at for Lydia to come over. Lydia semi pushes her way through the crowd and sits at the end of the table where a space has been left. "I was starting to worry, thought you had got lost or something" 

"No no I just…" Lydia was about to tell them about the jerk in the chemistry room but decides she doesn't want to give him that satisfaction. "I couldn't find for ages, but it was on the shelf" she smiles.

"Good…oh yeah Lydia this is Scott" she points to the boy next to her. "And that's Erica and Isaac" pointing the the blond and curly haired guy.

"Nice to meet you Lydia, Allison mentioned you moved from New York?" Scott asks, a warm smile still on his face.

"Yeah I moved her with my mother, she got a new job" she announces the reason she moved other wise she would be bombarded with question which she didn't want to answer. 

"That's must be hard" Scott said with a sympathetic smile. 

"Yeah, but it seems nice here so, I'll be fine" as long as I don't see that Jerk again (as she doesn't know his name she decides she like this name for him) she'll be happy. She doesn't understand why he annoyed her so much.

"Ohh Allison have you seen stiles today, I didn't see him come in this morning?" Scott asks, turning to his girlfriend, his smile now replaced with a frown.

"No he wasn't in Chemistry"

"He's probably at home with some girl in his bed I'm sure he's fine" the curly haired guy; Isaac who surprisingly has a English accent, a smirk spreads across his face. "He always skives Scott, he'll come in tomorrow and gloat about his conquests" clearly Isaac is not a stiles fan Lydia guess.

"Come dude, he's a good guy!" clearly Scott is a stiles fan

"The guys a douche, I don't get how your still best friends with him" Isaac shakes his head. Lydia wonders, If this stiles is like what Isaac says he is maybe him and jerk could be friends.

"You don't know him like I do, he's a good guy when you get past the…"

"Cockiness, jerkness, douchbagness"

"Okay Isaac that's enough" Allison interrupts. Isaac looks like he might say something else but Allison continues "Lydia me and Erica are going shopping this Saturday, do you want to come?" Lydia smiles, about the accept the invitation from her new friends but then her smiles drops. 

"Oh I would love too trust me, but I've got to go to this work thing with my mum, apparently whenever they bring in new member to her accounting firm they have a huge party and everyone goes so I kinda have to go" Allison looks slightly disappointed, Lydia's frown deepens but then Erica speaks up "it's fine, we can all go another day? How about Friday, you can get something for you party!" Both Lydia and Allison smile, 

"Yeah, that's greats" Lydia responds, although a part of her still misses her old life, Allison and her friends have softened the blow, maybe Lydia could learn to like this town.

"Wait what company does your mom work for?" Scott asks

"Spectre and Procter?" Lydia responds, slightly confused. The rest of the gangs also look confused before Allison seems to catch up and then Erica and finally Isaac, smiles appearing on their faces. "What?" Lydia asks, feeling left out of this clearly inside joke.

"You know stiles, my best friend?" Scott asks looking at Lydia, puppy dog smiles across his face.

"Yeah, the douchbag according to Isaac"

"According to everyone's he's ever meet" says Isaac under his breath

"He's the" Theres a slight pause before he speaks, as if he is thinking. "son of Mr Person which means like you he has to go to the party"

"Okay, but why is that so funny?" Lydia asks, slight annoyed that she still doesn't seem to understand.

"Stiles has gone to this thing for the last 2 years and he hates it, I mean really hates it and he doesn't let anyone else go, never brings a plus one and we've never seen him there, so you Lydia will be the first person at beacon hills to see him there and stiles will hate it and thats hilarious" Erica responds, trying hard to not laugh.  
The whole table begins to laugh, even Lydia, finally understanding the joke.

"What are we all laughing at, Isaac I'm assuming" a very familiar voices laughs from behind, before she can turn around to confirm her worst fear, the voice speaks again.

"Ariel, nice to see you again"

Lydia finally turns around and sees him there, looks cocky and smug and my god how she hates it, she just wants to march over there and slap him. 

Scott looks at stiles, a confused puppy face "who the hell is ariel?"

Lydia turns back to face the group, replacing her scowl with a smug smile.

"no-one"

"She is" 

They both speak at the same time, silence falls upon the group, they look at them both confused. Stiles still stands behind Lydia, very close. 

"Wait do you too know each other?" Scott asks, a smile breaking into his face.

"We briefly meet in the chemistry room" Lydia states, annoyance covering her voice.

"What she means is that I was a true gentleman and found her book and then she started undressing me with her eyes" Lydia turns around and looks at him, if looks could kill, hers would, but the smug bastard just winks at her. God she hates him, however her blushing cheeks could tell another story. Lydia snaps herself out of her thought. “The only thing I was doing with my eyes was imagining me slapping that smug smile off your face”

The whole table falls silence again, stiles turns to scott, giving him a wink. “feisty isn’t she” Lydia takes a deep breath, having to physically restrain herself from killing him. He walks around the back of her taking a seat next to scott. 

“Hey, why weren’t you in lessons today?”

“Over slept, thought I’d wait till lunch to come in, have a lie-in” stiles says matter of faculty. Lydia does a slight chuckle under her breath, of course this boy doesn’t care about school, apparently stiles is the human embodiment of everything she hates. 

“So stiles have you decided what your going to wear to your little party this weekend?” Isaac asks stiles, clearly wanting to annoy him. 

It then suddenly hits Lydia. Not only is she going to have to go to her mothers work do and meet all her boring friends, but stiles is going to be there. Being smug and annoying. My god. 

“Why don’t you shut the hell up Isaac, hmm?” stiles looks at Isaac.

“What about you Lydia, what are you going to wear?” Isaac turns to Lydia, her growing friendship with Isaac, coming to a crashing stop.

Stiles head snaps up, looking at Lydia, and for a fleeing second she thinks he looks…worried. However that is then replaced by a cocky smile. “Oh really, can’t stay away from me hu?” Lydia sighs, deciding to ignore stiles and look at Alison. “we can get matching outfits, and everything, we’re look adorable” Lydia looks back at Stiles

“Your really somethings you know that?” she says leaning in. Narrowing her eyes and putting force into each word.

Stiles also leans in, getting his face as close to Lydias as he can. “Could say the same about you” he winks and then leans back to enjoy his food.

The gang finishes there lunch and begin to walk to there next lessons, Lydia has Latin in H4.

"Well I've got Math now which is on the other side of the school so I can't really walk you there" Allison says as they reach the end of the corridor.

"It's fine I can find it, can't be too hard can it" Lydia says looking at the complicated map given too her at the start of the day. By the time she finds the lesson it will be over.

"Oh we couldn't let you just got wondering off into the abyss, what kind of friends would we be if we did that" Stiles steps forward with a smirk, he grabs the schedule from Lydia's hand, examining what lesson she has.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realise you being a complete ass made us friends" Lydia's asks, hands on her hips.

"We became friends the moment we meet ariel, I'm too hard to resist" he winks at her, before Lydia can give her witty comeback stiles interrupts. "Okay H4, oh that's just down the corridor from me, perfect" he turns to Scott giving him a wink before taking off down the hall "Come one ariel we haven't got all day, can't be late" Lydia turns to Allison who is failing to hold back her laughter. She takes a deep sigh before heading after stiles who thanks to his long legs is far ahead. They both walk down the corridor, every so often, stiles looks over at her, examining her strawberry blond locks, he tiny petite body. How the skirt dances around her legs. Stiles shake his head, this girl was something special. "I'm thinking a mermaid style dress, you know because of the whole ariel thing" 

Lydia opts to ignore his comment "So how does the son of Mr Spectres some become this much of a jackass?"

Once again only for a split second Lydia thinks she sees something flash across his face, she can't quite place it, so she brushes it off.

"Your like a poet with your words you know that" He looks at her, smiling. They reach her class room, Stiles stops just before, standing incredibly close to her. "So I'll meet you outside to walk you to your next lesson? Can't have you getting lost"

"I'm sure I'll make it stiles"

He leans in, putting his hand lightly on her hips. The coldness of his skin burning her flesh but she can't seem to remove his hand. "Don't want to risk it" and with that his hand is gone and he's walking down the. 

Stiles looks down at his hand, the heat of her body still on his hands. He walks down the hall to his class but turns around to take a finale look at her. He strawberry locks going into the classroom. A smile spread across his face, what the hell are you doing stiles thinks, he remove the genuine smile from his face and replaces it with his usual cocky smile before he disappears into the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyeddd! Next two chapters will follow soon! :)


	4. Man By The Black Car

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang arrange the meet at a cafe and Lydia has questions about stiles life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the support, heres the next chapter I hope you enjoy it! :)

Once again Lydia's lesson goes by quickly, answering every question with perfection. She picks up her books and exits the class, she begins her walk down the hall when she hears a voice. "Leaving without me?" Lydia turns around too see stiles running down the hall after her. 

Lydia surprisingly waits for the boy to catch up with her "Why were you outside my class?" 

They begin to walk together "Because I said I would walk you, I'm a gentleman" Lydia scoffs at this and he shoots her a look. For the first time stiles doesn't feel the need to say anything, they walk in silence, but not awkward silence, it's comfortable, familiar, this is something new to stiles, something he only experiences with Scott. The suddenly the silence is broken.

"You must be the new girl, shame you got stuck with Stilinski" They both turn around, a tall boy with a muscular build and blond hair, she notices his stunning blue eyes. Lydia looks over at Stiles who has become visibly tense, his jaw and fists clenched. The guy steps forward and Stiles takes a step forward positioning himself between the boy and Lydia, his arm stretching out protectively.

"Jackson" The hatred coming through visibly. 

The boy she now knows as Jackson takes another step forward, looks over to Lydia, a small cocky smile spreading across his lips. "How's your first day treating you?" 

Before Lydia has a chance to respond stiles takes a step forward, squaring up to Jackson. "I suggest you turn around and walk away before I give you a black eye to match the other one I gave you" neither boy moves, and Lydia's sure someone will throw a punch if nobody backs down soon. Lydia's doing it before she even knows what's happening. She reaches out placing her tiny hand on his arm, pulling him back slightly. "Stiles, don't we have a lesson to get to?" He doesn't move. Eyes locked on Jackson. "Stiles" more forcefully this time and it seems to work, he turns around looking at her. With one more finale look at Jackson, stiles and Lydia walk off down the hallway. 

"Guessing you two aren't good friends" Lydia asks while walking, turning her head to looks at stiles.

Stiles matches her movement looking at her. "Ever think of becoming a detective, I mean with deduction stills like that..." Stiles trails of waving his hands around for emphasis, obviously stiles doesn't want to talk about Jackson so Lydia drops the subject.

The pair reach the end of the hall, stiles having to go the other way for his lesson. "So keep going down the hall then take a right, the class is the first one you'll see" stiles points to the end of the hall, showing the instructions with his hands.

"Thankyou stiles" Lydia replies, why he guy isn't being a douche he's not to bad of a guy. God she cant believe she just said that. 

"Like I said, I'm a gentleman" stiles take a step closer, looking down on Lydia with those whiskey eyes and leans down, placing his mouth just in front of her ear. "And I'm sure you can find some way of repaying me"

Lydia freezes before raising her arms and pushing him back, he stumbles slightly "Just when I thought there might actually be a decent human in there you turn around and say that" Stiles looks like he's going to say something but Lydia continues, standing forward, looking at him with great intensity "Let's get something clear, you and me, never. Going. To. Happen." Lydia exaggerates each word, she raises her hand pointing her finger at him "Unfortunately I go for boys with a bit more class and well, brain cells, not just with a penis, okay?" And with that Lydia turns around and walks to her lesson, not looking back.

"See you at the party ariel, going to be so much fun"

Lydia physically feels the anger boiling in her blood, this guy just didn't know when to stop, he's the most annoying, frustrating and crude person she has ever meet. She shakes her head trying to calm herself down before doing into her class. The next two lesson finish quickly and before she knows it Lydia and Allison walk down the hall together “So what was that with you and Stiles at lunch" Alison's asks Lydia, turning to look at her with a smile on her face.

"What are you talking about?" Lydia asks, a frown plastered across her face.

Allison just looks at Lydia, shocked. "Are you serious, you two were totally flirting back there!"

Lydia spins around on her heels, looking directly at Allison. "I was not flirting with that…jerk" 

"I think you were" Allison giggles. The girls come to their lockers getting there books out ready to go home. "He seems to like you"

"That was him showing affection?" Lydia leans against her locker, shaking her head.

"Stiles has a very, unusual way of shocking affection. He seemed interested in you, they way he looks at you, and the way you look at him…"

"I was not looking at him in any way, okay! He's a pig now let's move on" Lydia can feel the heat rising in her checks.

"Okay whatever you say Lyd" Allison laughs and links her arm with Lydia's, the girls walk out of school. The girls come to the steps where Scott and stiles are sat on them. She sighs, can she not escape this boy.

Scott stands up and greets Allison with a hug and kiss on the checks. Stiles stand there and looks at Lydia, he winks, she rolls her eyes, making it obvious. Scott turns to Lydia "So we were thinking about going to a cafe down the road later on, you want to come?" 

"Don't worry, I will be there" Stiles buts in before she can reply. Scott laughs and Allison tries to hold hers in, both looking at the pair in front of them.

Lydia turns to Scott, putting her best polite smile on "I will love to come Scott, thanks for the invite" she turns to look at stiles, her best glare on. Scott and Allison start laughing again, neither trying to hide it again, even stiles tries to laugh, Lydia slaps his arm. "There allowed to laugh not you!" 

Stiles pulls his best sad puppy face and Lydia just shakes her head. Suddenly a car horn stops them from laughing, they all turn around. A very tall man, about 6ft 7' with black hair and a very serious face is stood by a Black Car, a Jaguar she thinks? Allison and Scott turn around and look at Stiles, there faces show no sign of laughter.

"Shitt" Lydia hears stiles mutter under his breath before walking over to the man. Stiles reaches the car and the two begin a conversation. Stiles begins to say something to the man but he puts his hand up to stop him, he opens the door to his car and points for Stiles to get in, his usual cocky smile replaced with a serious expression, however when Stiles sees the group is watching he cracks a small smile and throws a wink in Lydia's direction. The older man Is clearly not impressed and grabs Stiles arms and pulls him closer to the car, finally Stiles gives up and gets in the back seat. The older man looks at the group before walking round and getting into the drivers seat and driving off.

"Who was that?" Lydia asks, the pair look between them, obviously the older man is a delicate subject. Allison looks at Scott, her brow furrowed and and teeth biting the corner of her lip. 

"Stiles...dad" Scott replies, clearly unsure of he has said the correct thing. Lydia is very confused at the pair, it wasn't like she asked a complicated question. Lydia begin to ask another question when Allison speaks up, replacing her earlier face with a smile.  
"So should we meet you at the cafe, it's called 'La Passion' it's just down the road from the school, you probably saw it on your way, meet about 7?" 

Lydia looks between the pair, question still in her head but choose to save them, the subject obviously something Scott and Allison want to avoid.

"Yeah that's sounds great" Lydia says, a smile spreading across her mouth, she's glad she meet this group, minus one of course.

Allison and Scott wave goodbye and then walk off in the opposite direction holding hands. Lydia stands still for the moment, still confused by the situation that just happens. She looks at the space where the car was, she squeezes her eyes shut and shakes her head, since when did she become concerned about stiles life. She fixes her skirt and walks off in the direction of her car.


	5. House Number 37

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles counts the houses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is much shorter than the rest, and focuses on Stiles! Next chapter coming soon! :)

Stiles sits in the back of the car in silence, not like the silence him and Lydia had early, comfortable. He's not sure why he fills so comfortable with her, they've only just meet but it fills like stiles has known her for ages. The way she smiles at him, there's something about Lydia, her witt and attitude, how she doesn't take shit from stiles, it's endearing. Usually people brush Stiles cockyness off or give into it but not Lydia. She fights it, and challenges him. This silence however is uncomfortable, the tension filling the air, suffocating. Finally its broken.

"First day back at school Stiles, and you missed half the day?" His voice filled with annoyance.

"I'm aware of that" Stiles sarcastically replies, not wanting to have this conversation.

There is a hand on his arm, pulling him around, forcing him to look at Mr Spectre. "When talking to me you look at me okay, its called respect" That last part emphasised. They lock eyes, Stiles pulls his arm out of the grip and looks out of the window, resting his head on the glass. He knows that was a mistake, he could of easily replied with manners, but he didn't want to, me wanted to rebel, wanted to make his life hard. It was the only control he had.  

The houses passing by, he counts, he knows what number it is.

No34 no

No35 no

No36 no

No37 yes.

House number 37, just off the corner of the school. Two bedroom, two bathroom. A open plan kitchen and living room with wooden flooring. Dark red bricks, white windows and a blue door. A small white fence around the garden. Flowers in front of the house, following the fence. Stiles has studied every inch of the house, when driving to school, when driving back, when walking. The house, it's bittersweet for him. One side of its reminds him of his life, his old one. When he'd wake up to the smell of pancakes his mother had made him, blueberry and white chocolate. The garden where his father taught him how to ride a bike, the place where they sat down as a family and watched movies, the place stiles wanted to spend forever in. However on the other it reminds him what he lost, what he can never have again. Sometimes he see the new family in the house, happy, together. It makes him angry, so angry. Why did they deserve happiness? That was his home, were he did his homework, were scott and stiles played as kids were he helped his father with his job before it all happened. Stiles has to remind himself that it's not true, it's not his home, not anymore. He doesn't have a home, he has a house.

he car pulls to a stop and stiles gets out looking up at the house. It's bigger than the home, much bigger. Sand coloured bricks covering the house, grey slabs covering the roof. Small steps leading up to the house, three large pillars.  
  
It isn't filled with family, or happiness. It's just filled with people.


	6. Escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is heree! 
> 
> So in this chapter is a slight mention of physical abuse, although it is never said directly, the evidence for it there. putting this in incase anyone needs to know! Hope you enjoy it and the next chapter will be up as soon as possible.

Lydia grabs the pink lipstick off her bathroom sink, leaning close to the mirror, Lydia puckers her lips and applies the lipstick, making sure not to go wrong. Her mother is working late this evening so Lydia is alone in the house. Excited to be out with her friends so she isn't home alone all night.

After finishing her lipstick Lydia looks into the mirror. Picking up her comb and brushing one side of her hair. Why did it matter what she looked like, it was only Scott, Allison and stiles she was seeing, there only friends, well two of them are, the other is an infuriating jackass whom she can't seem to get out of her mind. Lydia grabs her bag off her bed and heads downstairs to leave, not before checking in the mirror one last time.

Lydia arrives at the cafe at just gone 7. When she walks in the see Scott and Allison sat in a booth in the far right hand corner. Both leaned in talking, too hot drinks in front of them. She makes her way over, Allison rises and greets Lydia with a hug, thank god it wasn't a handshake. Scott sweetly smiles at Lydia before they all sit down.

"You look gorgeous Lyds!" Allison announces, a wise smile across her face.

"Thanks Allison, so do you, I love your dress!" Lydia replies, matching Allison's smiles.

The group of three talk for a while, chatting about Beacon Hills and how the couple meet. Every so often Lydia's eyes wonder over to the door, where was stiles? Not that she cared but the boy was 30mins late. Not that she was surprised from his earlier attitude towards punctuality. 

"Ohh I forgot to tell you, apparently, one of the new Boys, Aidan thinks your cute" Allison directs at Lydia, throwing a wink in her direction.

"Urgg, see this is why I need stiles here" Scott protest, rolling his eyes.

"Where is he?" Lydia asks before she can stop herself, sounding more interested than she would like.

"Grounded, for a week I imagine. Punishment for missing school and-"

"Not upholding the Spectre name." Allison finishes, rolling her eyes. Clearly this is something that happens a lot.

"I'm guessing stiles gets grounded a lot?" Lydia ask with sarcasm, a small laugh following.

"Mr Pearson is super strict about, well everything and some times stiles likes too" Allison takes a pause, obviously trying to think of the correct word "push the boundaries" Allison replies, 

Lydia still can't believe that Stiles is the son of the guy that owns one of the biggest companies in beacon hills and according to her mother is highly respected and a big part of the community. 

"Wait if he's 'Mr Spectre' the why is stiles last name stilinksi?" Lydia asks, remembering what Jackson had said earlier. Maybe stiles just likes to be difficult, wouldn't surprise her.

The pair fall silent, Lydia feels as if the air has been sucked out of the room. Clearly bringing up something she shouldn't had. Allison drops her head slightly, looking at Scott, it's as if the two are having a silent conversation. Finally Allison looks away from Scott and looks directly at Lydia, leaning forward as she does. "Stilinksi is stiles biological fathers name" Allison tells Lydia, clearly not wanting to discuss the subject. So Mr Spectre isn't stiles dad, his mother must have re-married she. That might explain why there earlier conversation wasn't filled with hugs and kisses. From the reactions of Scott and Allison, Lydia decides to drop the subject, not wanting to push her new friends too far. 

Lydia gets home at around 10. She enters the house, looking around the house looks the same. Her mother must still be at work. She sighs. She walks up the stairs and goes into her room, collapsing on her bed. he hair sprayed out around her, legs hanging off the edge. Lydia removes her phone from her pocket, checking her messages. None from her mother. She must be in a meeting or working through some paper work Lydia thinks, trying to hide the disappointment. Lydia looks at her phone one more time before lifting her self off the bed, chucking a long top on, throwing her hair in a bun, small pieces failing out. She climbs into bed. She rolls over and sees the pictures on her wall. The pain not overwhelming her this time, but replaced by a small ache. She could work with that.

\---

Crash.

Slam. 

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

The door to Stiles room flies open, crashing into the wall behind, shaking the room. Stiles turns on his heels and slams the door. Walking around his room Stiles breaths heavily. He hates him. Stiles looks around the room. He hates it, everything in there reminding him of him. He wants to smash it all, throw it out of the window, set it on fire; the books on the shelve, the TV, the games, the clothes. Everything. Stiles hears movement downstair, he freezes. Foot steps begin up the stairs. He turns and stares at the door, not moving. Theres a pause.

The steps continue past Stiles room and go into the Master bedroom. A sigh leaves Stiles mouth. The few seconds of silence allow Stiles to relax. He walks over to his desk and sits down, eyes locked onto the moon. He wants to leave, he wants to pack up his bags and go, leave it all behind, the pain. This town which use to remind him of family, happiness and love.

He knows he can't, he'd be found, leaving him in a worse situation than before. Hopefully Stiles will be gone soon, allowed to leave. Free.

Stiles folds his arms on the desk, leaning on them still looking out the window, looking at how the moon illuminates the sky and the starts surround it. The huge tree across the street lightly blowing in the wind. Stiles eyes begin to feel heavy, the pain in his arm already beginning to form.

A thumping on his door awaken Stiles. His head files up from the desk, paper stuck to his face.

"We are leaving in 10 minutes" Mr Spectre calls, his voice stern, Stiles always makes his own way too school but due to missing it the previous day he is bringing driven in. Stiles shoots up from his desk, looking at what books he needs, he grabs the books and shoves them into his bag. He throws on a white top and grey jeans. He goes into the bathroom, splashing water on his face and then brushing his teeth. Stiles looks up into the mirror and sees it. A hand shaped mark forming on his bicep, deep purples and green. 

"shit" Stiles whispers. It hurt, but he had hoped it wouldn't bruise. Stiles sighs before going into his room, looking around. He finds a blue checkered shirt lying on the floor, he walks over and puts it on, covering the mark. Stiles opens his door and walks downstairs. Mr Spectre is stood by the door, there eyes lock. Stiles walks forward, nocking his shoulder with the man as he passes. Stiles throws open the car door and gets in. 

They drive down the street in silence, Mr Spectre looking at Stiles every so often, Stiles never meets his eyes. Stiles keeps his eyes on the road, waiting for it to appear, one more left and they will pass it. Suddenly the car turns right. A frown appears on Stiles face. He looks over.

"Theres always traffic down the left. This way is quicker" The man speaks.

Stiles just looks at him. A lie. There is no traffic, its always quite. This is a punishment, he knows about the house and its meaning and is cutting Stiles off from it.

"Is that a problem?" His tone daring Stiles to answer back.

"no" Stiles whispers, no energy to speak up. The anger begins to boil, he squeezes his eyes shut, a mixture of anger and tiredness. He can feel his heart rate increase. They pull up too the school and Stiles jumps out without saying a word. Walking towards the steps.

On them is Scott, Allison and Lydia. Scott smile at Stiles but It quickly disappears when he sees the look on Stiles face.

"Everything okay Stiles?' Scott asks slightly nervous. Both Allison and Lydia look at Stiles. His lip tightly closed, pulled into a thin line, eyebrows pulled down together. 

"Fine" Stiles replies. Anger clearly present in his voice. 

The group look at each other, clearly he is not but know one wants to mention it. Scott looks like he is about to speak up but he is interpreted by a loud voice.

"Detention for a week, that can't be fun" The group turn around to see Jackson stood there. Stiles anger raises, fearing it is going to boil over.

"Get the hell out of here Jackson" Stiles yells taking a step forward, pushing his shoulders back and clenching his fist. Scott reaches forward to grab Stiles arm but Stiles moves forward again, out of his reach.

"whoa, someone wake up on the wrong said of the bed" Jackson replies, sarcasm present.

"Stiles, shouldn't we start to walk to lesson" Lydia speaks up, fearing this argument will end differently than the last one. There no reply.

"Today is not the day to piss me off Jackson" Stiles hisses, squaring up to Jackson, the boys faces inches away. Scott steps forward, grabbing Stiles arm and pulling him back, Stiles eyes still locked on Jackson. 

"lets go to class okay?" Scott speaks loudly, Stiles doesn't reply so he moves in front of Stiles blocking his view of Jackson "He's not worth it Stiles, turn around and walk away." Scott whispers. Stiles doesn't look at Scott, still trying to look at Jackson. "I've got math next and have no idea where it is, do you mind walking me Stile?" Lydia speaks up, walking forward to join Scott The sight of Lydia catches Stiles attention, he makes eye contact with her and his fist start to unclench. He doesn't understand why this girl has this effect on him. He gives Jackson one finale look before turing around and walking up the last few steps. The group all look at each other. Lydia gives Scott and Allison and smiles before following Stiles.

The pair walk in silence before Stiles speaks up. "Did you have a good time last night?" He doesn't look at Lydia while talking.

"Yeah it was good thanks, Scott and Allison are great" she replies, a smile appearing at the memory of last night. She looks over at Stiles and her smiles drops slightly. He is looking directly forward, no cocky smile on his face, it replaced with a serious expression. "The four of us will have to go there some time" Lydia doesn't know why she is saying it, but something tells her he needs it. He turns his head and looks at her. She gives him a small smile. Stiles serious face has now faded, a smile appears and a small laugh escapes. She doesn't know why but the smile across Stiles face warms her, the fact she was the one that put it there making her smile grow. Its hard to believe this boy and the boy she meet on the first day are the same people.

"Scott and Allison are great" Stiles speaks up. She looks over with him and they lock eyes. "But not as great as me" he whispers, the usual cocky smile and flirtatious wink reappearing. Still smiling Lydia shakes her head. They reach the class room and Stiles walks faster and opens the door for her, doing a over the top bow directing her to enter the class.

Putting her hands on her hip and her head to the side, Lydia face looking very confused.

Stiles walks forward, standing in front of her, there bodies dangerously close "Like I said, I'm always a gentleman" he whispers. 

She looks up at him before shaking her head and pushing past him into class. 

Stiles smiles before following her in, taking a seat behind her. He leans forward, his head almost resting on her shoulder "By the way I was thinking purple for the colour theme of our outfits, purple dress for you purple tie for me" Stiles whispers. Lydia turns around, a scowl on her face.

"Fine you can choose the colour, anything but yellow, I hate yellow" Shaking his head for effect.

"Yellow it is then" Lydia whispers, sarcasm heavy in her reply.

Stiles looks as if he is going to say something when a loud booming voice cuts through. "Are we bothering you Mr Stilinski? Miss Martin?" Lydia turn around to see the teacher looking at the pair, the rest of the class following, eyes locked on them

"actually we were-

"No, Professor" Lydia interrupts Stiles. The teacher looks at them both before turning around and carrying on with his lesson. Lydia takes one finale look behind her shoulder. Stiles catches her and gives her a wink" She quickly turns around a blush rising on her face. Lydia moves the piece of hair which had fallen on to her face out the way and starts to read her book.

Stiles leans down, opens his bag and pulls out his book, a pain shooting up his arm. He put the book on the table and holds his arm, rubbing the bruise. He looks up and sees Lydia sat in front, her hair trailing down her back, bouncing when she moves. The sun rays from the window hitting it making it seems golden and shiny. Stiles smiles, the pain in his arm all but forgotten.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update-very busy at the moment so I will try and upload the next chapter soon but it might be a bit long than before! I can ensure you it will be done before the end of this week!


	7. Dread and Excitement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go guys! Next chapter should be up tonight or tomorrow, once again thankyou for all the support, you guys are amazingggg!♥

The rest of the week flies by. Before Lydia knows it its Friday. She spent the majority of her week getting use to her lesson and learning about the school, finally beginning to settle in. Driving down the road Lydia once again looking at the houses, she sees them everyday on her way to school. She likes to make up stories for each family, what there like, what they do. She was unable to do this in New York, too many people, too many buildings, but its different here. Like everyday she pulls up into the car park and walks up the stairs, she's the first one here today; the group have deiced to meet each other on the step every morning, allowing them to walk to class, they then see Erica and Isaac at lunch, although she hasn't seen much of them this week, Erica and Isaac have been spending time with a boy she now knows is called Boyd, she also learned that he is Erica's boyfriend and Isaacs long time friend. Lydia waits, pulling out her phone checking her messages.

_'hope you have a great day at school, first week done!!! Love you!! - Mom'_

A smiles spreads across her face. Her and her mother hadn't spoke much in the week, her mother working late almost every night and Lydia having to revise and spending time with Allison and Erica. Maybe this new town would help her relationship with her mother, once she settles in maybe she can come home earlier. The work ball is tomorrow. Although Lydia will admit she is not looking forward to meeting her mothers work collages and spending the evening with people she doesn't even know, she will enjoy spending some time with her mother. Being able to get dressed up with her and tell her mother about her new school and friends. There is another reason why Lydia isn't sure how to feel about the ball tomorrow. Stiles. Beside there off comments about outfits, Lydia and Stiles haven't spoke about the work event. This evening meant a lot to her mother and she doesn't want some cocky kid to mess it up. Then a thought occurs to her, if Mr spectre is as strict as everyone say and from what she's seen then maybe Stiles will be a polite, well mannered young man. A gentleman as he would say. A small laugh escapes her mouth. The two haven't seen much of each other this week, due to Lydia's serious attitude to learning and Stiles week long detention. Lydia's glad she hasn't had to deal with Stiles annoying cockiness, his constant flirting and his serious lack of personal space. She wont admit it, of course not. She pushes it deep down, but a part of her misses Stiles. God. She can't believe she just thought that. Theres just something about the way he speaks to her, he's so bold. He says what he thinks. Lydia can feel the heat rising on her cheeks, she shakes her head, raising her hand, fixing her hair.

She looks out into the car park, she sees Scott and Allison approaching the steps, hand linked together. Lydia greets Allison with a hug and gives Scott a wide smile. "So your first week is almost done! How does it feel!" Allison proclaims, a sweet smile on her face.

"Good actually, I know where all my classes are now, pretty use to the school, feeling good" Her smile widening, its true, she was feeling good, she liked her new friends and new school, something about being new felt good. She thought she would hate it but, it was almost a fresh start. Her and mother could try again, she could reinvent herself.

"Good, it took me sometime to get use to it" Allison replies "But luckily I had Scott to help my though it" The couple smiles sweetly at each other "and of course I eventually had Stiles, once he warmed up to me" The pair laugh, obviously remembering a memory.

"Stiles didn't like you to begin with?" Lydia finding it hard seeing as Stiles pretty much got on with everyone, especially if there a girl. I mean Stiles had known her for two minutes and felt it was appropriate to call her beautiful.

"Its not that he didn't like her" Scott says, obviously trying to stick up for his friend. "I mean who could not like her" Scott says, waving his hands at Allison for emphasis, a red blush appearing on her face, as well as a wide smile. " its just that Stiles can be a little closed off to people he doesn't know, likes to keep his walls up, he's like it with everyone" Scott looks at Allison, giving her a smile.

"Its okay Scott, it was a long time ago, think its safe to say were pretty good friends now" reassuring her boyfriend, placing her free hand on his arm, smiling. "Although he seemed to warm up to Lydia pretty quickly" Allison whispers to Scott, a wide grin on her face.

"I heard that" Lydia speaks up, placing her hands on her hips, her lips pulled into a thin line.

"You were meant to" Allison laughs, winking at Lydia.

"He does seem to like you" Scott says, laughing at Lydia's expression

"The guy acts like a complete ass to me?" Lydia says loudly, shaking her head.

Both Scott and Allison laugh "Have you guys picked your outfits yet" Allison says, leaning in so only the group can hear.

Lydia rolls her eyes "We are not going together!" Lydia yells, taking a deep breath, she pinches the bridge of her nose. The couple laugh and Lydia just shakes her head. "

What are we all laughing at, Ariel's crush on me?" Lydia turns around, Stiles is walking up the steps, a white and black baseball shirt on, rolled up to his elbows and a pair of black jeans. "

No actually we were talking about your douchey personality" Lydia says loudly as Stiles stands next to her, a wide sarcastic smile on her face. "and if think its more you that has the crush sweetheart"

"Well who wouldn't have a crush on you" Stiles says, cocky smile on his face "Like I said, you've got the whole package" giving her a wink. Lydia certain her whole face turns red, did Stiles just say he has a crush on her? No, no he was joking. Wasn't he?

"Should we get too class?" Allison speaks up, trying to keep her laughter at bay. The whole group walk down the hall, Allison and Scott in front and Lydia and Stiles in the back.

Occasionally Lydia looks over at Stiles, she notices that he keeps rubbing his arm. "Hurt your arm?" Lydia says, looking at Stiles.

Stiles face snaps round, looking at her. He takes his hand off his arm and puts them in his pockets, she notices he looks a little nervous, its only there for a second, then its gone. Anyone else would of missed it, but not Lydia "Knocked it on the door, its fine" Stiles says, his usual cockiness slightly toned down, Lydia frowns. He's lying. Why would he lie about his arm?

"You sure?" Lydia says, watching his face, he turns away from her, looking forward before speaking.

"Yes Ariel" nodding his head. She keeps looking at him, but he wont meet her eyes. He's definitely lying. However she doesn't know why. The group get to the end of the hall, Lydia, Allison and Scott going one way Stiles the other.

As soon as Stiles turns the corner, he sighs. Stiles is amazing at lying, he always gets away with it and is never caught. He can even lie to Scott and Allison. So why couldn't he lie to Lydia? He looked at her and the lie just got stuck in his throat, his well thought out, perfect lie, he just couldn't say it, not while looking at her. He had to look away and even Stiles knows that reeks of lying, shaking his head he walks into class trying to forget about the awkward encounter.

Lunch time rolls around and the gang walk into the lunch hall sitting down. Erica and Isaac join them today.

"So Lydia looking forward to your mothers work event tomorrow?" Erica says, a smile on her face.

"It should be okay, not looking forward to having to meet all her colleagues though" Lydia says, rolling her eyes, thinking about all the awkward hand shakes she's going to do.

"Don't worry, you'll have Stiles to keep you company" Isaac says, pointing to Stiles with his knife, a wide grin on his face.

Lydia turns her head and Stiles winks at her "He's right, we can spend the whole evening together, Ariel" Stiles says with a flirtatious tone.

Lydia just shakes her head, and rolls her eyes. She turns toward Erica and Allison. "So what time are we going shopping tonight?" Lydia says.

"Why don't we meet at the Cafe again and then we can all drive to the shops together" Allison says. Lydia nods her head, she looks at Erica, who has a mischievous smile on her face. "Scott, Stiles. Why don't you come with us?" Erica looks at Lydia, giving her a smile.

Before Lydia can say anything Stiles speaks up. "We would love to Erica" Lydia turns around and looks at Stiles, his face one of shock, he was also not expecting Erica to say this, however a smile then appears on his face, matching Erica's.

The buzzer cry's out in the lunch hall. "So we all meet at the Cafe and then we can all go together, perfect!" Erica smiles, grabbing her bags. The group walk out of the hall when Lydia grabs Erica arm.

"What the hell was that?!" Lydia whispers to Erica, standing just outside the lunch hall door.

"What, I was just inviting our two friend out with us" Erica says, Lydia looks at her, obviously knowing the girl is lying.

"You two coming?" Scott says, smiling at Lydia. Erica winks at Lydia before turning around and walking towards the group. Taking a deep breath Lydia follow. Once again the group reaches the hall and go in different directions. Lydia takes a right and begins to walk before hearing a voice. 

"See you tonight Ariel" She turns to see Stiles looking back at her, a wide smile.

Dread and excitement filling her stomach.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New Chapter! Next one will be up tomorrow Hope you guys enjoy it! Thankyou for all the lovely comment, I really appreciate it!
> 
> Warning: Warning: Warning:  
> There is physical abuse in this chapter 
> 
> The next few chapters are going to take kinda of a dark road, nothing too serious but the physical abuse starts to come into play and we really start to see what Stiles has to deal with, but don't worry its not all bad we will also see some more stydia interaction! I will now be putting warning before each chapter to tell people if there is any violence in the chapter!

Stiles sits on the breakfast benches downstairs, he was meant to be meeting the group at the Cafe to go shopping but Mr Spectre has decided he needed to talk to Stiles first. Stiles legs jumps up and down, his head lying on his arms. At this rate he was going to be late, Erica, Scott and Allison won't mind, Stiles is usually late, but today, Stiles wants to be on time. He knows why he wants to be on time but doesn't want to admit it. Lydia. He knows its stupid but he wants to show the girl he is capable of being a good guy. He shakes his head, trying to get the ridiculous thought out of his head. He hears someone coming down the stairs, Mr Spectre is stood there, in a black suit and grey tie. 

"So, you wanted to talk to me?" Stiles says, keeping his head on his arm.

"Yes I do" He pauses, walking around the table, facing Stiles. "As you know tomorrow is a very important day" He speaks in a very confident voice. "And this year I would like you to prepare a speech"

Stiles head snaps up, looking at Mr Spectre, eyes wide and mouth open. "A speech, are you serious?" His voice loud and filled with annoyance. 

"Yes very" Mr Spectre speaks calmly. "You are a big part of this community Stiles, and I want you too be more involved. It doesn't have to be long just about how your life and what Beacon Hills have done for you-"

"-and what you've done" Stiles says matter of factuality.

"If you feel I've helped you then yes" Mr Spectre stands up, straightening his suit out. "Well we better get going then, I'll drop you off, I have to go into the office for an hour anyway" Mr Spectre walks around the table and grabs his keys, he opens the door and holds it open. Stiles looks at it before standing up and walking out.

A speech. He can't be serious. If Stiles hates one thins, its public speaking and Mr Spectre knows it. He obviously doesn't care, just wants Stiles to go up there and talk about how amazing he is and what he's done for Stiles. Probably a punishment for missing school. Stiles squeezes his eyes shut in the car, taking a breath. His temper starting to surface, Stiles hated going to the event as it is, and now the cheery on top, a speech. The car comes to a stop and Stiles throws the door open and walks out, no goodbye or even a look. Stiles walks towards the Cafe, Allison, Lydia, Erica and Scott stood outside, the group notice him and begin to walk forward to meet him.

"Stiles" Mr Spectre yells out from the car. Stiles continues walking forward, ignoring him.

"About time" Scott says, slapping him on the back, a smile on his face.

"Starting to think you chickened out" Erica says, giving him a wink.

"No chance" he says, looking at Lydia, giving her a wide smile.

" **Stiles!!** " The voice calls louder. Stiles takes a deep breath and turns around.

"What?!" More anger in his voice than he intended.

Mr Spectre looks stunned, not expecting the outburst from Stiles, he quickly composes himself before yelling back "Hope you have a good time" A smile on his face.

A smile Stiles has seen a thousand times. A smile that mean 'your in trouble later'

Stiles turn back towards the group, looks of worry on there face. 

"everything okay Stiles" Allison says, a warm smile on her face.

"Yeah its fine, just" He pauses, shaking his head, "Its fine, are we going then" he says, pointing towards Allison's car. The group walk over. Allison and Scott in the front and Lydia, Erica and Stiles in the back. 

Allison and Scott sit hand in hand in the front. Erica looks across Lydia who is in the middle towards Stiles, her eyes rolling, obviously referring to the couple in the front. Stiles leans forward slightly "you know, I really don't want to crash because Scott was trying to cop a field" Scott turns around, giving him a deadly glare. Stiles winks at him and sits back in his seat, Erica turning to Stiles and laughs, Stiles doing the same thing.   
  
Lydia's never really noticed it before but Stiles and Erica are quite close, they are very similar people. They seem very comfortable with each other, the way they talk. Lydia sits silently in the car, she can't believe her girls day out has been ruined by the cocky boy next too her. In the corner of her eye Lydia can see Erica on her phone, typing a message to someone, a smile on her face. She finishes her message and then locks her phone. Suddenly Stiles phone beeps next to Lydia. She slightly turns her head, Stiles pulls his phone out, the name 'Erica' on the screen. Lydia turns her head and looks straight forward. She can feel the heat rising on her cheeks. Why did Erica need to text Stiles, why couldn't see just say it out loud? Was there something she didn't know or couldn't know? Or were they talking about her? Lydia shakes her head, why did it matter what they were saying, its not like she cared right? Plus Erica has a boyfriend so nothing is going on with the, not that she would care if they were of course. Dam it Lydia.

The gang pull up at the mall, all jumping out. Allison, Lydia and Erica walk up front, Scott and Stiles behind.

"So decided what kind of dress you want?" Allison says, looking in the shop windows.

"umm, not sure yet, thinking-"

"Purple right?" Stiles speaks up from behind. Lydia turns around to see Stiles giving her a smile.

"Actually I'm thinking yellow!" Lydia says, matching Stiles smile, before turing around to face the front again

"Hmm, got to say I think purple would suit you better, also if were matching, I got to wear it too" Stiles says from behind, doing a slight jog to catch up with her infront, standing next to her.

"Yeah you could wear a nice yellow tie, yellow shoes, maybe a whole yellow suit!" She turns to look at Stiles, he nods at her before leaning down closer to her.

"To be honest, I'd could pull of anything" Lydia turns around, surprised at how close his face is, and too her surprise, she leans in closer.

"So can I" Stiles and Lydia look at each other, neither breaking contact.

"Ohh I can believe it" Stiles whispers, giving her a wink.

"So Lydia would you like to continue flirting or go shopping" Erica interrupts, Lydia snaps her head around, Allison and Erica stood outside a shop hands on their hips.

"Were weren't-"

"Its fine, were have plenty of time to flirt tomorrow night" Stiles says, Lydia snaps her head back to Stiles, giving him a glare and pulling her lip into a thin line.

"You guys go shopping, were meet you in the Cafe upstairs" Scott says, giving Allison a quick kiss on the check.

"Make sure she doesn't buy yellow" Stiles yells back. Lydia shakes her head before walking into the shop.

~~~~~~~~

Scott and Stiles sit in the Cafe upstairs talking about School. 

"So whats this thing with you and Lydia" Scott speaks up, a smile on his face while taking a drink of his coffee.

"Whats that supposed to mean?" Stiles replies, raising his eyebrows.

"You **know** what it means!" Scott whispers, leaning forward.

"Its just harmless flirting Scott" Stiles replies, shaking his head and leaning back on his chair.

"Just harmless flirting my ass!" Scott laughs also leaning back.

"Shut up" Stiles laughs.

"ooh my god your going red" Scott laughs, leaning forward pointing at Stiles.

"No I'm not" Stiles replies, no longer laughing, a small smile on his face.

"yess you are you are going red, I have never seen you blush before" Scott continues to laugh, shaking his head at Stiles.

"Im not blushing!" Stiles whispers, leaning closer to Scott.

"Why don't you just admit it" Scott says, no longer laughing, but still smiling.

"Admit what Scott?" Stiles replies sarcastically, taking a sip of his drink.

"That you like her" Scott smiles, leaning in.

"Yeah were friends, of course I like her" Stiles replies, obviously knowing what Scott meant.

"I mean like, like her" Scott replies, pointing his hands towards Stiles.

"What are we in 1st grade!" Stiles replies, slapping Scotts hand away. Scott just laughs, taking a sip of drink. "She's just...different" Stiles replies.

"So you do like her!!" Scott flies forward in his seat.

"I didn't say that! I said she different" 

The boys lean back in their chairs, Stiles shaking his head and Scott laughing.

~~~~~~~~

Lydia walks around the store, looking at all the dresses, none of them taking her fancy. She pulls a dress off the hanger and holds it up in the mirror.

"It looks nice, Stiles will love it" Lydia turns around and Allison is stood there smiling, raising her eye brows.

"I'm not trying to impress Stiles" Lydia replies, putting the dress back on the hanger.

"Pretty sure you already have" Allison picks up a dress and holds it against Lydia, both girls shake their heads, putting it back on the hanger. "Erica's pretty sure Stiles likes you"

"There pretty close, those two" Lydia replies, looking over at Erica who is on the phone to Boyd.

"Lydia Martin. Are you jealous!" Allison whispers, a wide smile on her face.

"Whatt! No, no! It was just a question!" Lydia stutters, shaking her head.

Allison shakes her head, laughing. She links her arms with Lydia and the two walk around the shop. "When I first joined Erica was on of my first friends and over time she, Scott and Stiles became friends" Allison pauses, as if she is thinking about what to say. "For a short time, and I mean like a week, they were, well weren't officially-"

"A couple" Lydia interrupts, looking at Allison.

"I'm not sure you call what they were a 'couple'' Allison laughs "They both realised they were better off friends and have been ever since, nothing to worry about Lydia" Allison turns to Lydia giving her a smile.

"I'm not worried" Lydia huffs.

"Then why did you ask" Allison whispers, smiling.

Before she can reply Allison picks a dress up off the hanger and holds it up showing Lydia. Lydia look at the dress, smiling. "I love it!" Lydia walks over, clapping her hands and picks up the dress, looking in the mirror. Lydia does a turn and poses, looking at Allison. "What do you think?"

Allison walks over, standing behind Lydia "I **adore** it!!!" she smile, before leaning in "and so will Stiles" Lydia turns around playfully pushing Allison.

"I just got a text from Stiles saying there bored and want to know if were done" Erica replies walking over to the two girls.   
  
Lydia looks in the mirror one more time, before smiling. "Yeah I'm done".

The boys stand outside the shop, waiting for the girls to come out. Allison comes out first, walking up to Scott, giving him a kiss and grabbing his hand. Lydia and Erica then walk out, Lydia with bag in hand. The group begin to walk toward the car. Lydia hears feet catching up to her and turns to see Stiles smiling down at her.

"Wanna show me what you got" He teases, knocking his shoulder into hers playfully.

"Nope" She answers, a playful smile on her face.

"Why not" Stiles gives his best puppy dog face, trying to look into the bag. Lydia snatches the bag from his view.

"Your have to wait till tomorrow" She replies quietly, giving him a wink.

Stiles face is one of shock, he was not expecting that. The group pile into the car and begin the journey back home. Allison drops Erica off first and then Lydia. She jumps out the car and bids goodbye to her friends, walking down the path. She faintly hears the car window roll down and then a voice.

"See you tomorrow Ariel, looking forward to seeing the dress!" Lydia keeps walking not turing around, a smile spreading across her face. Lydia unlocks the front door and walks inside. All the lights are off.

"Mom?!" Lydia calls out, looking around. She walks into the kitchen and sees a note stuck on the fridge.

_'Working late tonight, love you xxx'_

Lydia feels all the joy leave her body. Lydia's mother was meant to be home tonight, they were going to have a girls night in before the work event tomorrow. Lydia grabs the note off the fridge and looks at it. She can feel the hot tears gathering in her eyes. Its not like its the first time here mother had to work late but Lydia was excited to show her her dress and tell her about her night. Lydia thought this would be a fresh start for them, a chance to try again. She balls up the notes and throws it in the bin. She compose her, not allowing the tears to fall. She heads upstairs into her room. She pulls the dress put an hangs it up on the cupboard, she walks back and falls onto her bed, looking at the dress. The beauty of the dress not changing the fact that Lydia is going to be spending her Saturday mixing with boring work people she doesn't like nor care about, and very likely she won't even get to spend time with her mother. Lydia feel the tears start to gather again when her phone buzzes in her pocket, the phone screen reads a number '732-757-2923' Lydia frowns, she doesn't recognise the number, she opens the message,

' _Hope the dress isn't yellow, but if it is, I'm sure it will look great, meet me outside the building at 8pm, don't want to get stuck with some boring old men - The boy you have a crush on'_

A smile spread across her face, the tears gone. Lydia lets a laugh escape her mouth, shaking her head.

_'Dress isn't yellow (only hint I'll give) and maybe I want to get stuck with boring old men? - The girl you have a crush on'_

Lydia sets the phone down on her side table and gets ready for bed. Lydia changes her outfit for a long top coming down to her knees. She shoves her long hair up into a bun and goes into the bathroom to take her make up off. Lydia walks back into her room and gets into bed, pulling the cover up to her neck, just as Lydia is drifting off to sleep, her room erupts in light, her phone vibrating. Lydia turns her head and picks up the phone

_'You sure? Pretty sure theres things I can do that those old men can't - The boy you like like'_

Lydia shake her head, throwing her head back onto the pillow, this boy never stops, Lydia is about the disregard the comment but then she decides to put something else.

_'You couldn't handle it - the girl you want'_

Lydia is a flirty person but has refrained from doing so with Stiles, not wanting to encourage the boy any further, tonight however, is a different story.

_'I guess were have to see then - the boy you undress with your eyes'_

Lydia looks at the message, a smile on her face. Locking her phone and placing it on the nightstand.

She turns around, facing the dress. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

~~~~~~~~

Stiles lies in his bed looking at his phone, earlier in the day while they were driving to the mall Erica had texted Stiles Lydia's number. He didn't ask for it but Erica felt like Stiles would need it, her words not his. He liked Erica, she understood him. The pair were very similar and Stiles felt like that was why they got along. He wasn't as close with Erica as he was with Scott and Allison but she was still a good friend. Stiles had deiced to text Lydia once he got back, he was surprised that she replied, and even more surprised when she matches his flirting. Flirting with Lydia was different than flirting with other girls, she matched his level and didn't allow him to get away with anything. She was different and he liked it.

Stiles hears the front door open, dropping his phone Stiles tunes the lamp next to his bed off and pulls the covers up. The steps begin up the stairs, Stiles closes his eyes shut tight and for a second forgets how to breath. The door open slightly, light spilling into the room. 

"Stiles" A harsh voice calls into the room. Stiles doesn't move, he knows this won't work but its worth a try. "Stiles. Get up. Now" The voice even harsher than before.

Stiles takes a deep breath before turning around in his bed, facing the door. Mr Spectre is stood in the door, still in his suit, his tie loosened. Stiles stands up from bed, wearing a white t-shirt and grey joggers.

"We need to have a conversation about the way you spoke to me earlier" Mr Spectre steps into the room. Stiles takes a step back, he knows how this conversations goes, he's lived it a thousand times.

"I'm sorry" Stiles whispers, looking at the floor. Before he can register it a fist collides with Stiles stomach, sending him tumbling to the floor, a hand grabs the collar of his top and pulls him up, shoving him into the back of the door.

"Sorry ' **Mr Spectre'** learn some respect!" The man yells in Stiles face. 

Stiles squeezes his eyes shut, looking away. Big mistake. Another fist collides with his stomach, the hand still on his shoulder pushes him into the middle of the room, Stiles falls to the floor.

"LOOK AT ME WHEN I TALK TO YOU!!" The man shouts into the room. Stiles slowly raises his head up and looks the man in the eye, neither says anything for a while. Suddenly Mr Spectre turns on his heels and walks out, but not before turning around calmly telling Stiles "Get some rest, big day tomorrow" The room is plunged into darkness. 

Stiles sits on the floor of the room, his arm clutched around his stomach, the pain being to start. Stiles can feel the prick of tears in his eyes and shakes his head. He refuse to break. He picks himself off the floor, wincing as he moves. Stiles moves over to the bed and lies down, his knees pulled up to his chest, his arms rapped around them. Stiles isn't one for praying, but for the first time in a long time he does. He prays he is able to leave, prays the letter will turn up soon, telling him he's free and able to leave. Stiles hasn't told anyone about the letter and isn't planning on doing so until he knows for sure that he's free, he can escape. Stiles closes his eyes and starts to diff, the dread of tomorrow evening filling his head, but before he falls into a deep sleep the dread is replaced by the image of a girl with Strawberry Blond hair.   

 


	9. Ariel and Eric At The Ball

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles and Lydia attend the work-do and the pair learn about each others life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So basically I wrote this chapter last night and when I click post and the thing just crashed to I had to write it again, so thats why its late! Hope you enjoy this chapter, its a bit longer than the rest! Please feel free to leave comment, thanks for all your support, next chapter should be up Monday night!

Lydia stands in the middle of the room, in her towel, her hair clipped up. She walks over to her white desk and sits down, taking her make-up out of her draw. Lydia applies her foundation, and powder, adding a slightly pink blusher to her checks. She grabs her eye shadows, a light silver eye colour, sparking in the lighting. She takes the towel off her hair, her wet locks falling on her shoulders, the colour looking slightly darker usual. She stands up and takes the dress off the hanger and puts it on, the dress hugging her figure. She walks over to her draw and takes the hair dryer out, drying her hair. 6:30, she had and hour and a half till she had to meet Stiles outside the building. Stiles. She had been thinking about the boy all day. His messages last night. Was he asking Lydia to go to the event with him? I mean they were going in together? Well not going in together as a couple, like a plus one thing but as friends, for moral support, both knowing the event will be boring. Stiles wasn't asking her to go with him, she knows that. Lydia feels a burning on her head, realising she left the hair dryer on the same spot for two long. She rubs her head, feeling the heat. She turns the dryer off and sets it down. She doesn't know why but the boy makes her flustered, the way he looks down at her, his witty comments and flirty remarks, the way he winks. She can feel the heat rising again and shakes her head, she was being ridiculous, she wasn't interested in Stiles the boy was- Lydia didn't know how to finish the sentence, not being able to find the words to describe Stiles. Lydia pinned up the last piece of her hair and sprayed it with hair spray. She looked in the mirror, tilting her head and smiling. This is the first time she has been able to dress up since being her and she was excited. Although Lydia is getting use too and even enjoys living in Beacon Hills she does miss the party lifestyle of her old life. She turns around and grabs her silver diamond clutch bag and makes her way downstairs.

Her mother is standing in the kitchen, she's wearing a deep purple evening gown, flowing from the top to her ankles, not to fitted but just enough, one strap on the left with diamonds coming down from it. Black high heels and a black clutch bag with a strap on her shoulder. Lydia is glad she didn't go for purple as well. Her mother turns around and puts her hands on her mouth. "oh my god Lydia you look beautiful" He mother walks towards her and holds her face, a wide smile on her face.

"So do you mom" Lydia smiles back. Its true, Lydia got her beautiful hair colour from her mother and the pair looked very similar.

"Thankyou, so, should we get going" Lydia's mother replies, taking her hands from her daughters face and picks up her phone and puts it in the bag. Lydia looks at the clock, 7:00pm, she going to be there before Stiles, she going to have to stand outside and wait for him, great. She could just go in and meet him in there but Stiles said to meet outside and as she's seen before, he does keep his promise about waiting for her. The mother and daughter walk outside and get into the taxi that is waiting for them.

~~~~~~~~~

Stiles stands in front of his mirror, fixing his bow tie. Stiles hated getting dressed up like this, it felt so formal and fake. Stiles doesn't like wearing suits, he use to, for family events and parties. In the picture on his desk, Stiles father is wearing a black suits and tie, his mother in a blue ballgown and Stiles, only 11 at the time was in a small back suit matching his fathers. They were going to one of his dad's work events, an end of year celebration for the police force. Stiles smiles fondly at the picture, if only young Stiles knew how much his life would change only a thew short months later. He looks into the mirror and does a double check before walking downstairs.

Mr Spectre is stood in the hall on the phone, he turns around and see's Stiles, doing a double check of him, making sure he is dressed correctly for the event. He gives Stiles a thumbs up and a smile. This is what Stiles hates. The mood swings, one minute he's a kind and helpful man and the next- "You ready to go" Mr Spectre interrupts his thought.

"Yeah, yeah ready" Stiles gives a small smile, the older man gives him a pat on the back walking towards the door before quickly turning around blocking Stiles for exiting through the front door.

"Have you got your speech?" He ask, obviously testing to see what Stiles will say.

Stiles taps his top pocket and gives a small reassuring smile.

"Good" and with that they both walk out the door. Stiles gives Frank a wide smile, giving him a wave. Frank is Mr Spectres personal driver, they don't see him often, only for the big events and when they leave Beacon Hills for vacations. Stiles jumps into the back of the car and sits down, pulling his phone out of his pocket, he looks down at the screen, a message appears under the name 'Ariel'

_'Outside near the front door, theres a plant pot next to me, don't be late. - the girl in the stunning dress'_

Stiles smiles at the message, surprised that Lydia is actually waiting for him, Stiles checks the time, 7:45pm. Stiles leans his head against the glass and looks into the dark streets, the street lights illuminating his way. Stiles takes death breath, for the first time in, well forever, looking forward to the evening.

The car comes to a stop, Frank gets out and opens the door for Mr Spectre, Stiles gets out the other side and closes the door before straightening out his suit. He walks around the car, walking up to Frank. He gives the man a pat on the back before slipping a 10 dollar note into his pocket "Mr Stilinksi, you don't have to do that" the man goes to take the money out but Stiles pushes his hand away. "You just had to sit in a car with me and Mr Spectre, you deserve it" Stiles give a finale pat on the back and walking towards the entrance, Stiles looks around the entrance, swarm of people walking into the building, a black carpet laid down for people to walk on. Stiles turns his head left, before quickly snapping it back, all the oxygen sucked out of his lungs, his mouth hanging open. Across the crowd Stiles sees her. Lydia is stood next to wall. A emerald green dress tightly hugging her stunning figure, the dress covered in a light pattern of flowers. The top cuts off just below her shoulder, the long tight sleeves slightly see through. The dress flows down to her ankles and long slit going up her leg, stoping at the top of her thigh. She holding a silver diamond bag clutched at her side, matching her silver high heels. A silver necklace tightly around her neck. Her usually long locks pinned up in a low messy bun, a thew locks hanging down in front of her face, moving in the wind. Stiles takes a huge breath, trying to gather the oxygen he lost, walking over to her his legs feel slightly shaky. Stiles has seen many beautiful girls at these events before but never as stunning as Lydia and has never felt the air leave his body so fast.

The wind nips at Lydia's leg, although the dress looks amazing on her, the gapping whole on her leg making her very cold. Lydia turns around to see if Stiles has arrived, the time being 8:04pm. Sees many different people walking in, many beautiful dress and men in very flattering suits but suddenly her focus is entirely redirected to a man walking towards her, she quickly realises its not a man, but Stiles. The boy is a black suit, the darkness making it almost seem shiny, a button done up in the middle, hugging his chest. A black bow tie around his neck, a white pocket scarf in the shape of a square. A wide smile completing the boys outfit. Although there are many people in black suits, Stiles looks different, the outfit working for him very well, he should most definitely wear this outfit more often.

"Its not yellow" Stiles speaks up over the loud voices, the smile still on his face, hands in his pockets.

"I said is wasn't" Lydia answers, matching his smile. Stiles eyes rake over her body, looking at every part of the dress, trying to remember every detail. "Like it?" Lydia speaks up, a mischievous smile on her face.

Stiles looks at her for a few more minutes. "Definitely" Stiles says in a breathy voice, a large smile on his face.

Lydia cheeks turn red, a quick smile appearing before she looks away and pulls her lip into a thin line, trying to hide her smile. "Should we go inside?" Lydia asks, looking at Stiles, his whiskey eyes bright under the light, his moles standing out against his face.

"Yeah, bit cold out here" Stiles says, rubbing his arm to try and warm up. Stiles turns around about puts his hand on her shoulder, leading her in into the building.

"Ohh wait!!" Lydia cries out, she breaks free from stiles hold and walks back towards where she was standing. Stiles turns around, frowning, he watches as Lydia walks over too the plant pot, looking at all the flowers, finally she makes a happy expressions and takes a flower out of the pot, the flower is a cream rose surrounded in green leafs, matching the colour of her dress, she walks back over to Stiles and stand in front of him, putting the flower in his top pocket, rearranging it so the leaves are visible. She pats him on the chest looking up and giving him a smile. "If I'm going to be seen with you then you need to match" rising her eye brows she quickly turns around and starts walking in, Stiles quickly follows behind her, walking in next to her.

The ground floor of the building is a sea of people, all in magnificent dresses and suits. Men in waiter outfits, walking around with champagne on trays. Round tables are dotted around the floor, people standing around talking, some sitting down. People stood at the bar watching men shaking drinks and pouring them out. Lydia looks around in amazement, she has been to many events in her life, the ones in New York were very similar but for some reason this one feels different, the dread she usually feels replaced by excitement. A waiter walks past and Stiles takes two glasses off, holding one out in front Lydia. She turns around to look at Stiles, he nods his head towards to glass, she takes the glass from him. "Thankyou Stiles" She says, in a very polite voice.

The both walk forward, taking in the surrounding. They both find an empty table and Lydia put her bag on the table sitting down, her legs hanging on the side, her arm resting on the back of the chair. Stiles sits facing forward, occasionally looking into the crowd.

"So plan on working here one day?" Lydia asks, taking a sip of her drink.

"No, accountings isn't really my thing" Stiles replies shaking his head. "What about you?"

"Umm, haven't quite decided yet, while I like the mathematic side of it i'm not sure about all the politics and stuff" Lydia replies, she always hears her mother talking on the phone about work, it never sounds fun or enjoyable, Lydia wants a job that she will enjoy.

"Got any ideas what you want to do?"

"FBI or police force" Stiles answers. He sounds very confident in his answer, clearly knowing what he wants to do.

"wow, wasn't expecting that" Lydia replies, speaking truthfully. The pair continue to talk for a while, about Lydia's life in New York, Beacon Hills before Lydia came and funny stories about Scott and Allison.

While Stiles is telling a story a voice interrupts him. "ohhh Stiles boy, how nice to see you!" The pair turn around to see a older man and woman walking towards them. The man in a black suit and the woman in a black flowing dress, pearls lining her neck. Stiles stands up, a smile on his face.

"Simon, Brenda" Stiles speaks cheerfully, walking towards the couple, his arms stretched out, the couple giving him a hug. Lydia is surprised to say the least, she didn't imagine Stiles as a hugging person. Stiles pulls back, looking the couple, shaking his head. "You two are getting younger looking each time I see you, what are you know Brenda, 40?"

The woman laughs, giving Stiles a slight push. "Stiles, you are such a sweet young man" The woman then clocks Lydia sat behind Stiles. "and who's this beautiful young woman" she speaks, walking forward, Lydia stands up and gives the woman a smile. The older woman puts her hand on Lydia's shoulder. "You look absolutely stunning daring"

"Why thankyou, so do you" Lydia replies, a large smile on her face "I love your necklace" Lydia continues.

"Thankyou sweetheart" The woman replies, putting her hands on her pearls, clearly they mean a lot to her.

"Brenda, Simon" Stiles says as he walks forward, standing next to Lydia, putting his hand around her shoulder. "This is Lydia Martin" A wide smile on his face. Lydia turns her head and looks at Stiles, he gives her a wink.

"Nice you meet you Miss Martin" The older man reaches his hand out towards Lydia, usually Lydia would roll her eyes or sigh, but not tonight. She happily takes the older mans hand and shakes it, a genuine smile on her face.

"So how did you two meet" Brenda points between the pair, a sweet smile on her face.

"Umm I joined Stiles school last week, we bumped onto each on the first day" Lydia turns to look at Stiles, raising her eye brows at him, he gives her a wide grin, both decided not to tell the whole story.

"How sweet! Well I'm glad you finally found yourself a nice girlfriend" The older woman innocently replies.

Both the pair are left in silence, both struggling to find the words, when Stiles finally thinks of the words to say Simon interjects. "Well be better be going, hope you have a lovely evening" Brenda gives Stiles arm a small squeeze, before the elderly couple walk off into the crowd. Once again the pair are left in silence, Lydia goes to say something before Stiles interrupts. "Do you want to dance?" Lydia's head snaps towards Stiles, her head tilted to the side. "Oh don't worry, I'm not going to cop a field in public" He leans in closer to her, almost whispering "I do have standards" She turns her head, giving him a questioning look. "A platonic dance, or would you rather go hang out with the old men" He gestures his hand towards a group of old men, drinking and laughing loudly, Stiles raises his eye brows, challenging her. She sighs before taking Stiles outreached hand and walking towards the dance floor. The find a space near the middle, Stiles places his free hand on her hips and Lydia puts hers on his shoulder. "So enjoyed your first week at Beacon Hills?" Stiles flirts.

"Yeah, except theres this boy that wont stop flirting with me" she gives him a mischievous smile.

"Well, can you blame him?" He gives her body a once over with his eyes "Clever, witty and beautiful-"

"The whole package?" Lydia interrupts, tilting her head, Stiles mimics the action.

"Exactly, kinda makes it hard not to flirt" Stiles says quietly, putting his tongue in his cheek. Stiles eyes studying her face, the way her long eyelashes cast a shadow on her face, the fallen pieces of hair hiding her face. Stiles releases the hand from her hip and moves the piece behind her ear, hand going down to hold her again, this time however he tightens it, pulling her closer.

Lydia's eyes go down, looking at his hand before looking Stiles in the eyes and leaning in slightly. "What are you doing?" she says in a confident voice.

Swaging in time with the music Stiles leans closer, his face just inches from hers. "Dancing" his eyes flick down to her lips, pausing there before returning to her eyes.

Lydia catches his eyes moving, innocently she leans closer "I think your trying to do something else" She cocks her eyebrow up, giving him a questionably look.

"Like I said, a platonic dance" Stiles moves his head closer to her, in a very un-platonic way.

Lydia can count the moles on Stiles face, how each one stands out from his pale face. Her hand on Stiles shoulder moves further down his back.

"Now who's trying to do something else" Stiles raises his eye brow at her.

"What? I'm just dancing" Lydia knows that this probably isn't the correct time to be flirting. Lydia is incredible at flirting with people, but she has restricted herself from flirting with Stiles, knowing it will only encourage the boy. However the the close proximity, the dancing, the music has got Lydia caught in the moment.

The pair continue to dance in silence, when suddenly Stiles realises his hand from hers and puts it on her hips, reacting to his movement, Lydia puts her other hand on his shoulder. Both Stiles hands go around her hips and join at the back. Lydia turns her head, watching his hand link behind her lower back. When she turns back around his face is centimeters from hers. Lydia feels the air leave her body, once again his eyes go down to her lips, pausing for a while longer.

"See something you like?" She raps her arms tighter around his neck, also linking her fingers together, she doesn't know why she's encouraging him.

"Possibly" Her emerald green eyes locking with his whiskey ones. Stiles face inches closers to hers. She doesn't pull back. Stiles gives her lips a finale gaze, his face begins to slowly move towards hers, the speed allowing Lydia the time to pull away if she wants to. She doesn't.

Lydia's eyes drift shut, no longer able to see his face or lips. She can feel the warm breath against her lips and Lydia slightly tilts her head and moves forward to meet him-

"Stiles!" A Loud booming voice hits Lydia and Stiles. She opens her eyes to see Stiles face, millimeters from hers, either one could close the gap with a single movement.

"STILES!" The voice repeats, more demanding this time. Stiles closes his eyes and sighs, squeezing his eyes together. He unlocks his arms from behind Lydia and takes a step back, forcing her to unlock her own arms. Stiles turns around to see Mr Spectre stood by the stage steps, a annoyed expression on his face. Stiles turns back around to see Lydia has also taken a step back, the pair now a great distance away from each other.

"um I-I should probably go see, um see what he wants-"

"-yeah, yeah, no thats-thats fine, don't worry, its fine" The pair stutter and stumble there way through the sentences. Stiles gives a finale smile before turning around and pushing his way through the crowd towards Mr Spectre. Stiles heart feel as if its in his throat, his heart beat drumming in his brain. Stiles goes to lick his lips, his mouth is completely dry, not a drop of moister.

Lydia watches as Stiles walks away, she doesn't move for a minute, scared her legs will give way. The heat in her body rising, her cheeks going a dark shade of red. She finally moves through the crowd and gets to her table, she quickly sits down and downs the champagne. What the hell was that? What the hell was she thinking? She had spent the week pushing the boy away, and then she-what did this mean for them? Did he actually like her? Did they actually just nearly-

"Lydia?" Her mothers voice cuts into Lydia's thought making her jump in her seat! "You okay there hunny?" Her mother gives her a reassuring smile, taking a seat opposite her.

"Yeah, sorry you just startled me" Lydia replies quickly, catching her breath.

"Who was that boy you were dancing with?" Her mother quietly asks, giving her daughter a grin.

"oh just Stiles, a friend from school" she waves her hand to try and show her mother it was nothing.

"He looked like more than a friend" She looks at her mother, her mouth open in shock at her mother comment.

"Trust me, were just friends" Lydia reassures her mother, but to be honest Lydia isn't even sure if that comment is true

"I think he wants to be more" Her mother gives he a playful wink, Lydia gives her mothers shoulder a slight push "Do you want to be more?" Lydia stares at her mother, thinking the question over in her head. She turns her head around, Stiles is stood by the stage with Mr Spectre, however there aren't alone, A man and Woman are stood next to Mr Spectre and a younger girl, about Lydia's age is stood next to Stiles, A long pastel pink dress on, diamonds covering the top, she has short dark hair. The pair are laughing when the girl leans forwards and slightly pushing his shoulder and falling into his chest laughing. 

"Lydia?" Her name pulls her out of her thought, a small lump has formed in her throat, the heat has left her body replaced by a small ache.

"He doesn't want to be more, and neither do I" Lydia replies, to her surprise the statement causes a painful twist in her stomach. The screech of the microphone causes the audience to hush and turn towards the stage. Stood up there is Mr Sepctre and the same man he was talking to before behind the podium, towards the left end of the stage is the same woman  with Stiles and the girl in front.

"Hi everyone. First of all we would like to say thank you for coming here tonight, Mr Procter and I are very grateful for all your support" The audience clap in response. So that man was the other half of the company, mean the woman was Mrs Procter and the girl was their daughter. 

The other man spoke up "We here at Spectre and Procter are one big family, our employees are out family and we cherish you all. We are also a family outside of work, the Spectres and Procter families going far back together, even now we are almost one family, our children are basically siblings" The older man gestures towards Stiles and the girl. Lydia doesn't know if that comment makes her feel better or worse.

"These last few weeks we welcomed a new member to the family. Miss Martin, while only being her a few weeks has filled a void we didn't even know we had. Now, we can''t imagine out firm without you! You are a smart, witty and kind woman and we are so lucky to have you at this firm" Both the men clap and raise there glasses when Mr Spectre speaks again. "Now as you all know Mr Procters daughter, Malia, will normally make a speech at these events but tonight we have a special surprise, four years ago I made one of the best decision I've every made, I fostered a lovely little boy and I knew he was going to be a part of the family, after only six months, we decided to adopted him, and now four years later on that lovely not so little boy is going to make a speech about how much this community means to him " The audience all look at each other in surprise, clearly Stiles doesn't speak at these event. Lydia has always assumed that the reason Stiles dad wasn't around was because his mother had re-married but this new information led her to a much more saddening thought

Stiles walks to the front of the stage where the podium is, he places his glass down and gets a piece of paper out of his top pocket and places it on the stand.

"Um thankyou, thankyou, I'll try and be quick so you can all get back to partying" Stiles jokes, the whole audience laughs. Stiles eyes scan the crowd, his hands gripping the paper tightly, all the eyes are looking at him waiting for him to continue. Stiles eyes catch Lydia's in the audience, she gives him a small smile and Stiles takes a deep breath.

"Beacon Hills is a very important place to me and I am glad that Miss Martin is able to see how special this town is, I haven't meet Miss Martin yet but I have had the pleasure of meeting her daughter and if thats anything to go by then I'm sure she is a wonderful woman, the full package" Stiles gives Lydia a smile, In the corner of her eye she can she people turning and looking at her, some pointing, her face turns pink and she looks at the floor.

"This firm is the top firm in California and the reason for that is it great employees and the community of Beacon Hills. This community is like no other, sticking together during anything and helping each other out. The school here although not the top academically, gives its students the best opportunities to continue through life an offer endless support" Stiles feels a warm feeling in his stomach, the nerves almost completely gone, suddenly Stiles catches the eye pf Mr Spectre who has made his way into the audience, he isn't giving Stiles a reassuring smile, or a thumbs up, he is giving him a look. A look that is telling Stiles to move on to the next part of his speech. The part about him. The warm feeling is now replaced by a burning hatred. Of course he doesn't care about Beacon Hills or the people in it, he only cares about himself, about looking good in the community. Stiles can feel the heat rising to his face, the anger Stiles is feeling replacing all sensible thought. He folds his speech up and puts it back in his pocket.

"Now lets move on to the important part of this speech. Tonight I would like to thank someone very special, someone that has been there for me thought everything, who has never given up on me even when I was at my worse, someone that will also be in my heart" For emphasise he puts his hand over his heart, he then grabs his glass and raises it into the air "So join me in saying thankyou to" Stiles takes a pauses before looking at Mr Spectre, a smug smile on the older mans face. "John Stilinksi, a great man that we all miss" The audience, raise their glasses and Lydia notices the sympathetic faces being made, clearly Stiles dad is a sore subject with everyone. Lydia had always assumed that Stiles dad  "To the man that will **always** be my farther" At that comment, the whole room falls silence, all eyes on Mr Spectre, Lydia's mouth falls open. 

Stiles downs the rest of his drink and walks off the stage, a slow clap starts in the hall, the awkward tension still there. Lydia watches as Stiles walks down the steps and starts to walk away, Lydia starts to walk through the crowd try to reach Stiles, suddenly Mr Spectre comes up from behind Stiles and grabs his arm, spinning him around, the man is incredibly close to Stiles and from what Lydia can see they aren't having a good conversation. Mr Spectres face is screwed up in anger, suddenly Stiles pushes the man backwards, Lydia picks up her speed. Stiles walks forward, clearly intending to do something over than speak, suddenly the girl, she nows knows as Malia grabs Stiles arm from behind, stopping him from reaching him, he struggles in her grip but finally breaks free, turing around saying something to the girl before, Mr Spectre walks forward again and puts his arm on Stiles shoulder, he shakes his shoulder, knocking the mans hand off of him, Stiles squares up to the man, Malia, gets in between the two and pushes Stiles back, away from the older man, eventually Stiles stops fights and takes a step back and turning around walking through the crowd. Lydia follows Stiles through the crowd, eventually he pushes the doors open and marches out the front, Lydia runs through the door, Stiles is walking down the now pitch black streets.

"Stiles!!" Lydia calls out into the street, trying to catch up with Stiles, her heels echoing in the dark.

"Go back inside Lydia" Stiles voice is laced with anger.

"Stiles, stop walking away from me!" Lydia yells, trying to get Stiles to turn around, to say something to her.

"STILES!" With her finale yell, Stiles spins around.

"LEAVE ME ALONE" Stiles face is red, his jaw clenched and eyes wide. His whiskey eyes clouded with unshed tears, his chest rapidly rising and falling. Lydia just looks at him, she's never seen him look so worked up.

"No" Lydia replies in a quick but stern voice, the pair stand in silence for a moment, eyes locked to each other when Stiles suddenly decides to sit down on the curb, his legs stretched into the road. Lydia stands behind him for a moment before taking a seat next to him, her legs pulled up to her chest, and arms rapped around them, the cold of the street biting into her. Neither say anything just just sit there, looking into the night, in the corner of her eye Lydia can see Stiles moving, when she looks around she notices he is no longer wearing his suits jacket when she suddenly feels something on her shoulders. She moves her hand to her shoulders to find Stiles suit jacket. She looks back towards Stiles and he gives her a small smile, she gives one back before putting her arms in the suit jacket sleeves and rapping it around her, the sleeves draping over her tiny hands.

"Sorry" Stiles say in a quite voice.

"For what?" Lydia ask, generally confused.

"For that" Stiles motions his hand back toward the building, obviously referring to the argument with his dad.

"Its fine-" 

"No its not" Stiles interrupts, when she looks at his face the worry is clearly evident, Stiles bites hit lower lip before continuing "I shouldn't of done that, what was I thinking?" Stiles shakes his head, then he runs his hand through his head, Lydia notices his hands are shaking either from the adrenaline and cold or fear, but what does he have to fear?

I'm sure it will be-"

"I was just so angry, he makes me so angry and I just wanted to wipe that smug smile from his face and the only way I knew how was too" Stiles stops speaking. the street falls silence agains, clearly Stiles didn't want to bring up what he had said, when Lydia goes to continue her sentence Stiles continues.

"I was 13 when he died" Lydia's eyes go wide, she wasn't expecting Stiles to be sharing this personal information with her, she stays quite, allowing Stiles to continue. "I went to live with Scott for a month, Melissa wanted me to stay with them but social services wouldn't allow it, some crap about low income and stability. I went into the system for a while but as you can imagine there aren't a lot of foster families in the small town, eventually I went to stay with this great family, Mr and Mrs Spectre" Stiles smiles at the name, the first time she's seen him do so. "I was a pain in the ass, its not that I didn't like it, it was just hard" Lydia gives a small nod. "After a while I got use to it, they had a big house, lots of money, it was great, after about six months they decided to adopt me, I was over the moon, they seemed kind and they gave me time to adjust and put of with my shitty attitude" Stiles gives a small life which Lydia mimics, giving him a small smile. "Things started to get bad between them, fighting a lot, yelling, she leaved for a few days then come back. One day I came back from School and she just wasn't there, I asked where she was and she said she left and wasn't coming back" Stiles stops his story at this point, not wanting to tell the rest.

Lydia looks at Stiles, something telling her there is more to the story, she thinks about asking him but then decided something else. "I was 10 when my dad left" Stiles head turns around looking at her. "I came home from school and my mother was on the couch with my grandma, she was crying, I went over to her to ask what was wrong and she just kept crying" Lydia looks down at her shoes, this isn't a story she usually shares with people, something private she keeps to herself. "I asked again and she said that my dad had to go away and wouldn't be home for a couple of week, had to work, I didn't think anything about it because he was always away working" Lydia looked up, starting into the darkness in front of her, she hated this part. "As the weeks went on I kept asking when he would be home and she'd keep saying soon, he'll be home soon" Lydia can feel the lump rising in her throat, the tears trying to escape her eyes. "One day I came home and I didn't ask, that was the last time we spoke about him, she never said but I guessed what happened. He left" This is where Lydia usually stops her story on the rare occasion she tells it, but not tonight. "She started working later and spending more time at work, I saw less of her and we sort of drifted apart, I thought moving here would change that-that we could become closer again but, it just feels exactly the same. When I think about that day, I didn't just lose my dad, I lose her too" Lydia feel the hot tears drip onto her cheeks, she's about the wipe them away when Stiles hands appear on face, using the back of his thumbs to wipe away her tears, he pushes a lose piece of hair behind her ear and looks into her eyes.

"I can not imagine why anyone would want to leave you" Stiles gives her a sympathetic smile "and as for your mom" Stiles pauses here, trying to think of the correct words. "I think you just need to tell her how you feel, she loves you Lydia, anyone can see that from the way she looks at you, its just how she copes, and once you find a way to cope wether its the right way or not its hard to change" With that Lydia gives him a smile, she stands up and offers Stiles her hand, motioning for him to also stand up. Stiles takes her hand and stands up, neither move, Stiles gives her tiny hand a squeeze before releasing it and putting his hands in his pockets. While they walk neither says anything, not because they don't want to or because they can't think of anything but because they don't have too. Both enjoying the silence to think about the evening. 

"Sorry about that" Lydia whispers. Stiles gives her a look, like the one she have him earlier. "Having to listen to my emotional break down" She gives a small chuckle, he lets a laugh escape his mouth and shakes his head.

"its fine, you had to listen to mine first" a larger smile appearing on his face.

"yeah but you didn't cry" slight embarrassment spreading on her face.

"Thats because I'm not a cry baby" theres no malice in his words, he gives her a wink and a small laugh.

"Heyy!" she cries, laughing and pushing his shoulder slightly, Stiles grabs his shoulder in mock pain before erupting in laughter.

"Got a good punch there Ariel, bet you right hook is deadly" 

"Ohh you bet it is" She gives him a mischievous grin. A few seconds later they reach the front door, Lydia about to walk in when Stiles stops.

"Everything okay?" Concern lacing her voice. 

"yeah, yeah, I think I'm probably going to walk home" Lydia gives him a small frown.

"I just don't think its a good idea to go back in there right now you know" Stiles clearly referring to the argument she witnessed."Plus I'm feeling kinda shitty" the left corner of his mouth going up, looking down at the floor.

"Okay, you sure you don't want to call a cab" 

"No, it fine, think the fresh air will do me some good" 

"Okay" she nods her head, her hands moving to take to jacket off.

"Heyy, no, you can keep it, for tonight anyway. You'll need it for when you get home" 

Lydia gives Stiles a once over, he doesn't look like he's cold, not shivering. She gives him a small smile.

"Thankyou Stiles" Stiles gives her a small nod. "See why can't you be like this all the time"

"Be like what?" Stiles takes a step forward, obviously knowing what she means.

"A nice, polite, sweet boy" A smile appears on Stiles face, he takes another step forward when Lydia holds her hand up "Not the one constantly flirts and makes me question why I allow him to be my friend" a grin appearing on her face. 

Stiles places his hand over his heart, faking offence, Lydia just shakes her head at the boy.

"anyway, you should get back inside, have fun with the old men" he gives her a wink.

She shakes her head again and looks up at him. She doesn't know when she decided to do it or why she does it but she gets up on her tip toes, her hand light placed on his shoulder, she moves forward and places her lips on his cheek, only for a few second before moving her hand and looking at hime "I'll see you Monday Stiles" With that she turns around and walks into the building. Stiles just stands there, he can still feel the heat from her lips on his face. Stiles turns around starts to walk, a smile on his face as he thinks about the evening, however that smile is ripped away when a certain memory reappears, his speech, his argument. Stiles knows he shouldn't of done that, the anger was just so overwhelming. This causes Stiles to remember he eft the party without telling Mr Spectre. He pulls his phone out of his pocket, for a moment he thinks about not telling him but decides not to aggravate the situation. He send a quick text about not feeling well and shoves the phone back into his pocket. Stiles gives his head a shake, trying to wide to memory away, he can't changed what he did and he knows whats going to happen when Mr Spectre comes home but he'll deal with it then. It takes Stiles about 30 minutes to get to the house. He unlocks the front door and walks up the stairs, changing his suit for a pair of grey joggers and white top. He lays down on his bed and looks up at the celling, dreading what time rest of the night will bring Stiles tries to push the thought out of his mind, instead thinking of the strawberry blond he spent the night with, eyes start to drift shut.

~~~~~~~

Lydia walks back into the hall, the heat of the building causing her to shiver. She starts to walk toward her table, suddenly she feels a hand on her shoulder, she turns around the see the 'Malia" girl standing there, a concerned look on her face. "Hi, um is Stiles okay? I've been trying to find him but I can't and I'm guessing you know where he is?" Lydia looks at the girl, why would she know, she does but why does this girl assume she know, Lydias about to say something when Malia points at Lydia. Suddenly Lydia realises that she's still wearing his jacket. Her face goes pink in embarrassment, she quickly shrugs the jacket off and holds it over her arms.

"Oh yeah, um he decided to walk home, said he needed some air" Malia gives a sigh of relief, clearly worried for the boy.

"Okay, thank you. Sorry for ambushing you, I was just worried" Malia gives a small smile before going to turn around.

"Um, Malia right?" Lydia says, a polite small on her face, this girl seems sweet and clearly cares for Stiles.

"Yeah, Malia Procter, your Lydia right?" Lydia gives a small smile and nod.

"Do you want to grab a drink? Stiles is pretty much the only person I know so I'm kinda by myself now" Lydia usually doesn't do this, but the girl is clearly worried.

"That would be nice, been a long nigh" The girls turn around and walk towards the bar.

"Yeah tell me about it" a small laugh escaping her mouth.

She spends the rest of the night talking with Malia, the girl was very nice, she went to a private school outside of Beacon Hills she comes home on the week ends and for these events. As their parents own the company the pair have to spend time together, these event, dinners and so on. It was clear to Lydia that Malia was fond of Stiles but its also clear to her its in a platonic way, she knows this as she spoke about a boyfriend back in her private school. The girls spoke about school and Stiles before her mother came and found her, telling her the cab was outside. They got home about 1:30, Lydia still had Stiles suit jacket rapped around her arms, she gave her mother a kiss goodnight and went upstairs to bed. Once in the room her flung her shoes off, the material bitting into her ankles. She takes her dress off and hangs it over her chair. She put a pair of small pyjama bottoms on and a top that comes up just above her belly bottom. She crawls in her bed, pulling the sheets up to her chin, she reaches over to her night stand and grabs her phone, she types the message before locking her phone and closing her eyes.

~~~~~~~

Stiles room erupts into light, his eyes slowly begin to open, he looks around his room trying to find the light source. He sits up in his bed, rubbing his eyes. He gets up and looks on the floor. His pants pocket the source of the light. His phone. He sighs remembering he sent Mr Spectre a message, this is probably his response. Stiles thinks about ignoring it but then bends down and grabs the phone. He walks over to his bed and sits down.

_'Hope you got home okay, spent the rest of the night with the old men, great company'_

Stiles gives a small laugh, he didn't think Lydia would be texting him at this time. He unlocks the phone and types his message back before throwing his phone on the floor and getting back into bed and closing his eyes, sleep devouring him quickly.

~~~~~~~

Lydia's phone vibrates in next to her, she rolls over and looks at it. She wasn't expecting Stiles to reply, she thought the boy would be asleep by now. She unlocks her phone and gives a small laugh

_'the betrayal, the absolute betrayal, better not of given then my jacket, that shit was expensive'_

She locks her phone and and puts it on the stand. Lydia rolls over and looks at her chair. The moonlight from her window hitting the rose on the chair. Lydia gives a small smile as she drifts off into sleep. Monday will be intresting


	10. House not a Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lydia drops by to give Stiles his jacket and learns some new information about Stiles. Later on Stiles receives some news that causes him to make a decision he may regret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO SORRY this took so long, things got kinda hectic lately, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Next one should be up soon, wont take as long as this one I promise! Hope you guys are enjoying this fic!
> 
> Warning:  
> mentions of abuse and slight violence

The smell of french toast floats into Lydia's room, her senses being awoken. Lydia's eyes open drift open, the light from her window instantly piercing her eyes. Lydia groans and quickly squeezes her eyes shut, her hand wiping her tired eyes. She sits up on the bed stretches, pushing strays of hair which have fallen from her bun out of her face. Swinging her legs off her bed, she grabs her silk dressing gown and ventures down the stairs, following the smell of breakfast. Lydia walks into the kitchen, her mother is sat on the marble island, a long blue dressing gown on, a cup of coffee and book in hand.

"Is that french toast I can smell?" Lydia announces, taking a deep breath of the sweet air. He mother looks up and gives her a sweet smile, motioning to the plate of food in the middle of the island. 

"Help your self hunny!" A warm smile on her face "So did you enjoy last night?"

"Yeah, it was...good" Lydia replies, looking down at the plate of food, a smile spreading on her face. "How about you?"

"yeah, it was nice, Mr Spectre seems like a very nice man" Her mother happily replies.

Lydia can't help but frown at that comment, she's only the seen the man a number of times but every time she sees him she gets this feeling-

"No so keen on him?" He mother interrupts, clearly referring to the frown on her daughters face.

"Its just-doesn't he seem a little" Lydia pauses thinking of the correct word to say, this was her mothers boss after all. "Harsh"

"Well he runs a firm, to do that you've got to be pretty tough, I'm sure he's a lovely man at home. I mean the way he talks about Stiles and everything he did for him. Such a sweet family"

Lydia thinks back to her and Stiles conversation last night

_(he makes me so angry)_

_(Things started to get bad between them, fighting a lot, yelling)_

_(I asked where she was and he said she left and wasn't coming back)_

Lydia doesn't say anything back to her mother, unsure what to say. The man presented himself as a family man, caring for his son, wanting him to come to his work events. Lydia's mother wants her to come to the events because she' proud of her and wants people to see how great her daughter is, but Lydia is doubtful that is the reason he brings Stiles. not because Stiles is a bad kid, or has nothing to be proud of but because of appearance, wanting to show people how great he was. Lydia finishes her breakfast, giving her mother a kiss before heading upstairs to get changed. Upon entering her room, Lydia sees her dress hung up, the diamonds, glistening in the sun, she gives a small smile before taking the dress and putting it in the wardrobe. She grabs a blue skirt that comes just above her knees and a light purple top with flowers on the front. Lydia walks over to her desk and quickly puts some make-up on, nothing to much. She grabs her pink scrunchy and puts her hair up in a high ponytail. Lydia leans back in her chair, looking into her mirror, in the reflection she can see the black suit jacket draped over her chair. She turns around in her chair and looks at the garment, she picks it up and studies it, the suit looks that same as it did at the start, of course apart from Lydia's flower. Lydia reaches forward and takes the flower from the pocket laying the jacket back down. The cream flower has started to droop from lose of water, Lydia thinks what to do with is, leave it in the jacket? Throw it away? She knows she should just get rid of it but something inside her tells her otherwise. She stands up in her room and walks around her room thinking, she pivots on her heels and walks back over to her desk, she put the flower inside one of her Latin books. Once again she looks at the suit, she pause before picking up the suit and quickly walking downstairs, the walks back into the Kitchen, her mother still seated.

"Going somewhere sweetheart?" 

"Yeah, yeah do you know where Mr Spectre lives?" Lydia innocently asks. her mother gives her a confused face, unsure why she wants to know. "I have Stiles jacket, want to give it back to him now so I don't have to carry it around School" 

Her mother gives her a suspicious look before turning around and grabbing her phone off the kitchen side, she studies her phone for a few seconds before locking it again and putting it back down on the side. Lydia phone vibrates in her hand.

"I sent you the address" Her mother stands up and puts the plates in the sink, she walks around the island and gives Lydia a kiss on the forehead "have fun with your friend" Her mother gives Lydia a wink before turing around and walking into the living room.   


Lydia looks down at the phone before heading out the door. She pulls open her car door and gets in, pausing before starting the car up. She could always gives this to him on Monday, she was going to see him anyway. Lydia sighed before starting her car and pulling out of the drive. Why was she doing this? She knew why. She wanted to check on him. She feels stupid just saying it, Stiles didn't need her to look after him, or check on him, its just after seeing him at that event. Seeing him with out the cocky smile and attitude made Lydia think that maybe that isn't his true personality but a wall he has built. Lydia shakes her head, pulling herself out of the thought, she was thinking too much, she just wanted to check on her friend and make sure he was okay, thats all.  


Lydia's car pulls into the car the road, rows of large houses on each side. She continues driving until she finds it. Wow. The house is large, very large. The walls are a Sand coloured, large windows covering the front. She gets out of her car and begins to walk up the small steps, the garden is small but well kept, flowers arranged in patterns, hedges cut perfectly. Lydia reaches the door, it very large and a dark black, her tiny hand grips the door knocker and she knocks, he other hand gripping the suit jacket. There silence for a moment before Lydia can hear movement inside the house, she can hear locks being undone before the door swings open, Lydia was not expecting to see what she does.

Stiles is stood there in a white shirt with grey joggers, thats not what surprises her, what does is the large bruise engulfing Stiles left eye, a small cut on his eyebrow. Stiles faces turns to shock, he was not expecting Lydia to be there, he's about to speak when she interrupts.

"What happened to your face" She reaches forward with her free hand and grabs his face studying it, Stiles shakes his head free of the grip and takes a step back.

"Whoa, chill Lydia its not that bad!" Stiles points to his face then shoves his hands into his pockets looking at the floor. Lydia takes another step forward, looking at his face.

"What happened?" Lydia continues to study Stiles face, Stiles was fine when he left the party and when they were talking at about 1:30 he didn't mention anything about getting hit in the face.

"Oh when I got in last night, I got into my room and I think the drink kinda got to me and I tripped and hit my eye on my desk and-" Stiles motions to his eye to finish the story.

Lydia doesn't say anything, she just looks at him. Hit his eye in the desk? While that could happen, Lydia was doubtful. He didn't say anything in the texts and Stiles didn't have that much to drink, a few glasses. Lydia was very sceptical of Stiles story, but how else could of he got the black eye? If Stiles had a fight on the way home, she was pretty sure he would say something, make a joke. So how the hell did he get it?

Stiles stares at Lydia, his face a plain expression, giving nothing away. Over the years Stiles has perfected this, once again telling a lie to Lydia felt weird. Felt wrong. However he was able to tell his story convincingly this time. Stiles found that once he got to know a person he could lie to them better, knowing what they will believe and over time they will come to accept it. This happened with Scott and Allison, he hated lying to the pair to start with, having to come up with different stories, different lies every time, but know, Stiles can rattle of lies like nothing.

"Wait how did you know where my house was?" Stiles pipes up, he's never told her where he lived? He never has people round. 

"Ohh my mom gave me the address" Lydia replies, Stiles gives her a strange look, why was he looking at her weird? She was just returning his-oh yeah.

"Oh I'm here to give you the jacket back" Lydia replies, flustered. She takes the jacket from her arm and gives it to Stiles who takes it before turning it around and walking down the small hall way and turning the corner, out of Lydias sight. She just stands there, unsure what to do, should she leave? He's just left her standing here. She was being polite, returning his jacket, is he actually this rude? Lydia steps into the house and begins to walk down the hall way, she steps out of the hallway.

On the left hand side is the living room, a long grey four seater couch facing a wall of glass, a large tv on a stand, DVD's placed underneath. A glass coffee table placed in front of the sofa, a white rug underneath. On the other side is the kitchen. The wall is painted black, shiny white cupboard on the wall, two large ovens imbedded into the wall. A white marble counter, food and a chopping board covering it. A white island coming from the wall, black stalls lined up against them. Just in front of the glass wall is a large oak table, white chairs surrounding it.

"Was wondering if you were going to coming in"

Lydia rolls her eyes "Well you did kinda walk off" She looks around the room and sees Stiles has throw the suit jacket onto the sofa. She turns around and gives Stiles a glare.

"What?" Stiles replies, putting his hands out in confusion. Her eyes dart to the jacket on the sofa, her hands on her hips.

"I'll take it up later" Stiles shakes his head, walking over, folding the jacket and putting it on the coffee table. "Better?"

Lydia rods her head before walking into the kitchen, her boots click on the wooden floor, echoing in the massive house. She walks to the counter and looks at wall the food on the side, chicken, peppers, onion. Lydia turns to look at Stiles who his stood by the island, knowing what Lydia is going to ask Stiles speaks up.

"Chicken Chow Main" Stiles says, Lydia raises her eyebrow. "You were about to ask me what I'm cooking?"

"I didn't even know you could cook" Lydia replies, her voice full of sarcasm.

 

"Oh I'm an excellent chef" His voice full of confidence, he walks over to where Lydia is stood, leaning on the counter.

"Oh really?" Sarcasm once again present.

"Want to find out?" He leans closer to Lydia, raising his eye brows.

"Are you asking me to Dinner stilinski?" Lydia looks up at Stiles, mischief in her eyes.

"A platonic dinner. Or have you got something else to do?" The way Stiles says these words are far from platonic sounding, Lydia thinks back to the 'Platonic dance' the pair shared last night, wondering if the two can even do platonic. She doesn't have anything else to do and she is hungry. Lydia doesn't give Stiles an answer, walking around to the island and taking a seat.

"Amaze me Chef Stilinski" A wide smile on her face. 

Stiles turns around and goes to the fridge, opening it up and taking out two beers, opening the caps with his teeth, looking straight at her while he does so. He slides the beer over to her, the cold glass burning her hands. Stiles turns around and goes back to chopping the peppers. Lydia watches, Stiles is clearly concentrating, his arms going up and down, the sound of the knife the only noise in the room. After he finishes cooking he puts them into a dish, putting them aside. 

"Do you cook often?" Lydia ask, taking a sip of her beer.

"Yeah, most nights" Stiles replies, not turning around, concentrating on his meal.

"Where did you learn to cook?" Lydia tries to see what Stiles is doing but his body is in the way.

"My mom taught me" Lydia can feel tension as he says these words. The pair have never talked about Stiles mother, there last night conversation only discussing his father. From the tone of his voice she decides not to ask. " Also me and my dad use to do a lot of cooking together" Lydia can hear the slight sadness in his voice.

Although he can't see, she gives a sympathetic smile. The pair haven't known each other very long so Lydia is surprised that Stiles is sharing this information, usually he keeps his walls up. She likes it when he brings his walls down, he can generally be a nice person when he wants to. 

"Do you cook?" Stiles replies.

"God no" Lydia laughs "I tried to cook pasta once in New York and nearly burnt the place down" Lydia smiles at the memory, this is the first time in a while she has thought about New York, the usual pang on pain almost gone. She can hear Stiles laugh from where he is cooking.

"I'm being serious! The smoke detectors went off and everything, people thought the building was on fire" She laughs again, she stands up and walks towards the fridge, opening it and grabbing two more beers. 

"Sure, make yourself feel at home, help your self!" She turns around putting one of the beers by the stove before jumping up and sitting on the island, facing Stiles. He turns around and grabs the beer, leaning against the side, he opens the beer with his teeth again, he takes Lydias and does the same from her. he turns around and reaches up to the cupboard above his head, grabbing two bowls and passing them to Lydia, she jumps down from the counter and places the bowls on the island, the bowls facing each other. He grabs two sets of knifes and forks and sets them up. He picks up the wok and spoons the contents into the two bowls. He sits down opposite Lydia, putting his beer up in the air. 

"Cheers!" Lydia raises her beer and the two chink the bottles before starting on the food. 

Dam. It was good. Lydia's mother was god at cooking but she was nothing compared to Stiles. 

"Good isn't it?" Stiles speaks, mouth full of food. 

"Alright" Lydia lies, incredible the correct word. Stiles looks up at her and she gives him a mischievous grin.

"Guess I'll have to cook you something different some other time" Lydia looks up from her bowl, Stiles is still looking down. Did he just ask her to dinner again? See, the problem with Stiles is she can never tell when he's being 'platonic' and when he's being, well Stiles. 

"Fine by me" Lydia replies, not sure what she just agreed to.

While eating, Lydia looks around the room again, spinning on the stool to get a better view. The living room is very tidy, nothing out of place. it looks like a nice house, but there just something about it, maybe its the colour theme, or size but something feels cold about the room, not temperature wise, but the mood, it doesn't feel loving or warm, it feels like...empty. There are no photos in the living room, no family pictures, no memories, nothing. 

"Must say, I am enjoying the view of the back of your head?" Stiles speaks behind her. She spins around in her stool, facing Stiles. Stiles has finished his meal and is looking at her, a smile appearing on his face. "See, this is a better view" His hands motion to her face. She tilts her head, before shaking it and standing up, she grabs the dishes from the table and walks over to the sink, placing them in. She turns around to look out of the large windows, she suddenly realises there is a large pool outside, large sun loungers surrounding the pool.

"Wow, thats-thats a big pool" Lydia says walking over to the window, turning around to look at Stiles "Must be great for parties!" 

"Yeah, don't really have parties to be honest" Stiles admits, rubbing the back of his neck, standing next to her. She gives him a surprised look, he goes on to explain "Mr Spectre is kinda of- strict when it comes to the house" 

"So you've never had a house party?" 

"Nope, sometimes I have friends over, but Mr Spectres got to be here to make sure things stay in control. He's kinda a dick when it comes to the house"

"Where is he by the way?"

When she looks over at Stiles he has a certain look on his face, one she can't seem to define "He's in work, had to finish some stuff before he leaves for the week" Stiles says, casually, his voice almost sounding relived

"He's leaving you alone here, for a week?" Lydia is shocked by this, the longest her mother has left her was a weekend, even then she phoned her everyday.

"yeah" The way Stiles answer makes Lydia think this is a usual occurrence. 

Lydias about to say something when she hears a car driving up to the house, the pair turn around in unison, Lydia looks over at Stiles. His face is very tense, eyes wide. He looks over at the clock on the wall, clearly he wasn't expecting him home at this time.

"shit" Lydia hears Stiles mutter under his breath.

The front door opens and closes "Stiles" the loud voice calls out, Mr Spectre face appears in the hall way, he's holding a bunch of letter in his hand. The man stops walking, looking at the pair. "Oh, I didn't know we were having company" He continues walking and puts the letter down on the island.

"Oh I was just dropping of Stiles jacket" Lydia points to the jacket on the coffee table, looking at Stiles in the corner of her eyes. The boy is still tense, his fists are now clenched, she notices that Stiles has taken a small step forward, putting himself slightly in front of her, like he did with jackson, like he was protecting her.

"Oh, thankyou Lydia, that was very kind of you" The man gives her a sweet smile, however Lydia can see the bitterness behind the sweetness. The room is silent for a moment, Lydia shifts on her feet, looking at her feet. 

"Its okay, you have a lovely house Mr Spectre" she motions her hands around the room.

"Thankyou Lydia" another smile.

Lydia turns her head and looks at Stiles "Um-I should get going" Stiles head moves from Mr Spectre to her, his eyes, locking with hers. 

"Yeah, I'll walk you out" 

The pair walk pass Mr Spectre into the hall way and out the door. Stiles closes the door behind him and walks down the steps next to Lydia.

"You know I can walk myself to the car, think I'll be safe" She looks up at Stiles, squinting her eyes. 

"Never know with this neighbourhood, it can get pretty crazy!" The pair laugh as they reach Lydia's car, she turns around and faces Stiles, the pair becoming very close again.

"Thankyou for the jacket" he's looking down at Lydia, giving her face a once over.

"Its okay, like I said when we first met, I'm a decent human being with manner" She gives Stiles a sweet smile filled with mischief.

"Ahh I remember that, I-being a gentleman helped you find your latin book" He gives Lydia a wink and takes a step forward.

"Hmmm, I think we're remembering that event differently" She takes a step closer and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Well I think we can both agree on one thing though" Stiles copies Lydias motions and takes another step forward.

"Oh and whats that?" She uncrosses her arms and puts them on her hips.

"You fell for me the moment you saw me" Stiles face tilts to the side, his eyes rake down her face, remembering the last time they were this close; the 'platonic' dance.

Lydia is unsure what to do at this point, she knows what she should do, tells Stiles he is being stupid, tell him to stop flirting, but she doesn't want to. So she decides to ignore her brain and do something else.

"The other way round sweetheart" Lydia gets up on her tiptoes and places her mouth inches from Stiles ear "Like you said, I'm the whole package" She pulls her face back and gives Stiles quick kiss on the cheek, like the one last night, although that one was done for comfort this one-she turns on her heels, her strawberry hair, hitting Stiles in the face. She gets into her car, putting the window down "See you Monday Stiles" she pulls away from the curb and while driving away she can hear Stiles yelling to her.

"You don't toy with a guys emotions like that, Ariel. It's not attractive" Lydia can imagine the cocky smile on Stiles face, she shakes her head and starts to drive home.

Stiles stands on the curb, watching as Lydia's car disappears into the background, this girl is killing Stiles. He rubs his hands down his face, feeling the warmth from her lips still on his face. Stiles turns around and jogs back into the house, closing the door behind him. Stiles mood changes as soon as he's back in the house. The atmosphere frosty. 

Mr Spectre had gotten home at around two, two thirty and the two had gotten into a argument, Stiles knew it was going to happen, his actions at the work event unexceptable. The man yelled at Stiles and maybe it was the small amount of drink, or the fact his emotions were still high but Stiles made the mistake of talking back. Usually Stiles doesn't get black eyes, there hard to explain, bruise arms are the norm, Stiles decision to talk back was the reason for this black eye. When Stiles had woke in the morning Mr Spectre wasn't there, having to go into work to finish some work before leaving. Stiles walks down the hall, Mr Spectre is stood in the living room, his brief case open, moving paperwork around. Stiles walks over to the letter, looking through them.

It should be here by now, they said one to three months, it has been three months.

"It was in the hall when I came home" The voice makes Stiles jump, he turns around the see Mr Spectre holding a letter on his hand

 _To Mr Stilinski_  

Stiles quickly walks over to the man and grabs the letter out of his hand, turning around, walking into the wall way, going un the stairs on the left. Stiles quickly runs into his room and shuts the door. He paces in his room for a moment. This is it. This decides it for Stiles. He feels confident, the interview went well and Stiles is pretty sure the test went well. He looks at the letter for a moment before ripping it open.

_California Boarding School For Policing_

_Dear Mr Stilinski,_

_The Admissions Committee has carefully reviewed your application to the California Boarding School For Policing. After much consideration, I regret to inform you that we are unable to offer you a place at the boarding school. This years applicants..._

Stiles stops reding the letter after that. Stiles can feel the lump raising in his throat, his hands holding the letter begin to shake. What happened? What did he do wrong? Stiles screws up the paper in his hands and throws it at the door, the paper ball hitting the door and falling to the floor. That was his only chance, only chance to leave. He could finish the first term at Beacon Hills and then move to the boarding school, get to live there everyday. Get to leave Mr Spectre behind, leave this life, this version of himself. Now its gone. He has to stay, this was his one chance and he blew it. Stiles paces his room, he runs his hands down his face and pauses, not moving. It clicks.

Stiles did nothing wrong. It was him. its aways him. 

"So how did it go?" Stiles spins around and sees Mr Spectre lent against the door frame

"What did you do?" Stiles accuse, rushing up to the man.

"Excuse me?" the man acts surprised, but Stiles has seen this before, acting as he doesn't know what he's done wrong.

"What did you do!!" Stiles yells, he doesn't care if he gets into trouble, doesn't care if he gets hit, he wants answers.

"I didn't do anything Stiles" The man just looks at Stiles, daring him to say something else. He does.

"Yes-yes you did! You said something to them, told them to not except me!" Stiles yelling loudly now, the anger taking over.

The man walks over to Stiles, grabbing the top of his shirt, pulling him forward.

"Listen you little shit, I didn't do anything. Maybe your just not as good as you think, maybe your just a stupid little kid that needs to learn his place" The man hisses through clenched teeth, he pushes Stiles back, the force knocking Stiles off his feet onto the floor. The man composes his self, straightening his suit out. "Now I've got to catch my plane, don't do anything stupid while I'm gone" The man turns around and walks out the door, pausing before going down the stairs.

"I'm the only person you've got left Stiles, you better start showing me some respect" With that the man goes down the stairs, the sound of the door closing echoing through the house. 

Stiles just stays on the floor, unsure what to do. He jumps up from the floor, still unsure what to do. 

He's furious, livid. He paces his floor, his hands racking down his face, grabbing his hair. He wants to scream and yell. Want to scream at Mr Spectre, tell him how much he hates him, how he'll never be his dad, how he'll never respect him. He wants to scream at Lydia, scream at her for making him put his walls down, for thinking it will all be okay.  Wants to cry out to his mother, ask her why she had to leave him so young, it all started with her, everything that has ever gone wrong in his life is her fault. But most of all he wants to scream at his father, ask him why he left him alone, no family, nothing. He doesn't scream, he doesn't yell. He feels dizzy, his breath coming out in quick sessions, Stiles shakes his head, only making it worse. Stiles stumbles over to his desk, leaning on the top trying to breath, trying to stop the panic attack he can feel starting, Stiles head looks up and he sees it. The photo. The photo that causes Stiles so much happiness and so much pain. The last photo he had with his mother, before they she, before his life was sent into a downward spiral. The anger and sadness is to much.

Before he can stop himself he grabs the photo, his knuckles going white from the force, Stiles spins around, throwing the photo with as much force as he can. The silver framed photo crashes into the wall, the glass from the frame exploding into millions of pieces, the carpet covered in glass, the silver frame falls the the floor, the frame bent in places. A large dent has formed in Stiles wall, the blue wall paper torn exposing the plaster underneath. Stiles just looks at the wall, breathing heavy, he turns around, the anger still present. 

'Don't do anything stupid'

The voice echoes in his head, he thinks about trashing the house, running away.   


He doesn't do any of that, instead he does the stupidest thing he could think off. He pulls out the phone from his pocket, he quickly types the text not double checking or even thinking about what he's doing before he hits send to all. His grip on his phone tightens, he turns around and throws the thing on the bed, it bouncing off and falling to the floor. Stiles breath speeds up, he staggers into his bathroom, hands gripping the sink edge,

one.

two.

one.

two.

one.

two.

Stiles counts. Trying to slow done his breathing. The panic attack begging quicker than he thought, Stiles head looks up from the sink, he's greeted with his reflection. What looks back isn't cocky smile Stiles usually wears, his eyes not sparking with mischief like normal. Instead Stiles face is screwed up in pain, his eyes watery from unshed tears, the anger rises. It then boils over. Stiles release his hand from the sink and crashes it into the mirror, the pieces falling into the sink, Stiles steps back from the sink, he's knees give out from under him and he sinks to the floor, his back leaning against the bath. Stiles legs are stretched out in front of him, his head is in his hands, trying to control his breath. He doesn't want a panic attack, they hurt, he's alone. Stiles tries to think of something else, something that isn't Mr Spectre, isn't his father, isn't his mother.

He thinks of her. The way her green eyes glow in the sun light. How when the sun light hits her hair just right it looks gold. The smile she gives when Stiles says something flirty. He thinks about how she sat with him on the cold streets last night, how her checks go pink when he compliments her. How she tilts her head and raises her eyebrows when she's annoyed, how her lips felt on his cheek. How when he told her to leave, she didn't.

His breath slows, his heart beat relaxes. Stiles takes in a deep breath, he looks at the mess in front of him; glass on the floor, blood on his hands. H is head resting against the bath. Stiles closes his eyes, exhausted from the anger, he doesn't care about the hole in the wall, doesn't care about the broken picture, doesn't care about the mirror or the blood, doesn't care about the text he sent. Stiles eyes feel heavy, the anger and sorrow taking its toll on Stiles. He doesn't make any effort to move from the floor, exhaustion setting in. He'll deal with it tomorrow, deal with the hole in the wall, deal with the broken picture, deal with-

Before Stiles can finish his though his eyes close, darkness consuming him,

~~~~~~~~~

beep. beep. beep.

Lydia's phone vibrates on her bed. She's sat on her bed reading her English text book, taking notes for Mondays class. She puts the book down and grabs her phone, a message from Stiles on her phone.

'Party at my house 2mozz, starts at 7:30 ends whenever. Screw school on Monday. Alcohol here, food here, pool here. Be there  \- Stiles'

Lydia frowns at the message. Didn't Stiles say he can't have large parties especially when Mr Spectre is gone. Lydia stares at the message before sending a reply, still frowning at the message.

~~~~~~~~~

Stiles phone lights up on the floor

_ 'Everything okay, that message sounded kinda stressed?'  _

Theres no movement in Stiles room, the frame and glass un touched. The glass from the mirror still in the sink. Stiles legs are stretched out on the floor, his arms rapped around his stomach, head leaning on the bath, eyes still closed. No angry thoughts fill Stiles head, he isn't thinking about Mr Spectre, isn't thinking the boarding school, for the first time today, angry or worried thoughts aren't filling Stiles head, just the silence of the room. 

 


	11. Getting ready for the party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry this is late, life got a little hectic and school got crazy. This chapter is pretty short and sets up the next one that will be up tonight or tomorrow (I promise Tuesday will be the latest its up)
> 
> Once again love you guys and welcome any feedback you havee!♥

Buzz.

Buzz.

Buzz.

Buzz.

The sound echoes through out the room, bouncing off the walls, the only noise in the house. The sun rays creeping through the window, the glass on the floor catching the light and beaming onto the ceiling. The silver frame still on the floor, pieces of wallpaper surrounding it.

Buzz.

Buzz.

Buzz.

Buzz.

The sound creeps its way into the bathroom. Stiles motionless body still on the floor. His arms have fallen on the floor, his head leaning back onto the bath, his breath steady.

Buzz.

Stiles groan, the noise intruding on his peaceful sleep. His eyes slowly flutter open, the brightness of the room assaulting his eyes, they quickly close. Buzz. Stiles re-opens his eyes again, more carefully this time, wary of the light. Stiles head rolls forward, his chin resting on his chest. Stiles takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly. He places his hands on the floor to push himself up. Pain erupts his left hand, Stiles releases his hands from the floor, falling back onto the bath tub. He grabs his hand, the pain slowly dulling. He looks down at his hand. His knuckles are a deep shade of purple and green, cuts ranging from small to large surrounding the bruise, trailing there way down his hands. On the left hand side of his knuckle a particularly deep cut throbs, causing his hand to slightly shake. Stiles holds his hand tight to his chest and uses the other hand to push himself up. Stiles looks down into the sink, shards of glass filling the sink, pieces over flowing onto the floor. Large pieces of the mirror still holding onto the wall. Stiles turns away from it and exits the bathroom and steps into his room.

The true destruction of last night coming into focus. The glass on the floor, the broken frame, the hole in the wall. Stiles shakes his head and walks over to his bed, sitting himself down and wiping his faces with him god hand. The memory of last night flooding back.

_"Listen you little shit, I didn't do anything. Maybe your just not as good as you think, maybe your just a stupid little kid that needs to learn his place"_

_"don't do anything stupid while I'm gone"_

Buzz.

The noise cuts into Stiles thoughts, he turns his head and sees his phone glowing on his bed. He reaches back and grabs the phone.

_**25 Messages** _

_**4 Miss Calls** _

Stiles sighs, he knows what the 25 messages are about. The party. Stiles was so angry, he just wanted to do something to punish Mr Spectre, so he did the worst thing he could think of. Break the house the house rules. Have thirty at the house drinking his drinking, eating his food and trashing his house. In the harsh day light Stiles starts to think about what he has done. He's broke the number one rule, the most important rule. Stiles has broken many broken many rules in his time, but never this one. Never.

His grip on the phone tightens as he scrolls through his messages. People excited for his party, It is known through out the school the size of his house and the wealth he possesses, people constantly telling him to hold a party, he always refusing. Its not like he has never hosted a party, he has, last semester he throw a massive party in the woods. Stiles knows it too late to back out from this party, people already excited, people already planning the night and planning their excuse for tomorrow. He continues through the messages before stopping at a certain one.

_Everything okay, that message sounded kinda stressed?'_

Stiles pause. Everything wasn't okay. He wasn't excepted into the boarding school, he had to stay with Mr Spectre, he has to throw a party that he in all honestly doesn't want to throw, the decision made on impulse, the angry and sadness pushing him to make this rash decision. Stiles fingers hover over the phone, deciding what to type, before he can think of anything the screen changes, a picture of Scott flashing up on the screen, the buzzing noise once again returning. Stiles takes a breath before answering the phone.

"Heey Scott" Stiles stands from his head looking around his room before turning and leaving, going down the stairs.

"Heey, dude where are you?" There was slight worry in his voice.

Stiles enters the living room, the clock on the room revelling it to be 12:36pm. Crap. Last nights event had obviously drain Stiles of what little energy he had. He pinches the bridge of his noise. He pauses before composing himself "Planning the party of course!" Mock cheeriness filling his voice. 

"and you need to miss school to do that because?..." Although Scott and Stiles were best friends and Scott accepted Stiles and his crappy attitude he was never impressed when Stiles missed school, he knew how smart Stiles was and knew what he could do. Scott was the one that pushed Stiles in school, the one that kept him on the straight.

"Lots of things to do scotty, its only two days of school Scott, I'm not going to fail" He walks over to the cupboard as he speaks, opening it up and looking through it.

"Half our year is going to be hangover tomorrow, sure the school will appreciate that" Scott laughs. Stiles can hear laugher and talking in the back ground, obviously Scott was at lunch. Stiles keeps looking in the cupboard, he finally finds what he is looking for, he pulls the green box out and opens the lid, inside plasters, bandages and other medical supplies.

"I'm sure there get over it" He pulls the bandages out, along with antiseptic cream. 

"Everything okay Stiles, you seem preoccupied?" The concern coming back into his voice.

"Yeah everything fine, just got a lot to do for tonight" The lie rolling off his tongue.

"Okay well if you need any help I'm free after school?" Stiles quickly interrupts Scott, any other day he would welcome Scotts help but not today.

"No its fine, I've got. I'll see you about 7?" Stiles rushes through the sentence as he puts the box back into the cupboard.

"Yeah, guess we'll see you then" Stiles can hear the worry in Scotts voice but decided to not question it. He puts the phone down on the side.

Stiles walks over to the sink, turning the tap onto cold, he grabs a cloth and puts it under the water. He begins to wipe his hand, cleaning the blood away. Stiles holds in the gaps as the cold water stings his hand. The water in the sink turns red, it swirling around the drain before disparaging. Once all the blood is gone Stiles can see the damage better. The small cuts aren't that bad, however there is a large one that Stiles is slightly worried about, that obviously being the source of all the blood. Stiles puts the cream on his cuts, clenching his teeth as he feels the stinging start again. He finally grabs the bandage and raps his around his hand. Stiles hand throbbing, almost as it has a pulse. Stiles leans on the counter, pausing.

He looks around the room. He should be worried, he should be panicking about what he's done, the punishment he'll get if Mr Spectre finds out, but he's not. Instead a feeling of calmness floods his body. He's made this decision, he now has to see it through. Also a part of him still wants to punish Mr Spectre for what he's done. With his mind made up Stiles gets to work preparing for the party.

~~~~~~~~~

Tap.

Tap.

Tap. 

Tap.

A head snaps around and gives Lydia a stern glare, she gives them a confused look back, they look down at the pen in Lydia's hand which she was currently tapping on the table. She gives the person a apologetic smile and puts the pen down. She leans back on her chair and looks at the clock: 2:30. Four period had gone by very quick. Allison and her spent the most of the lesson preparing for a test the next week and in there spare time discussing the party tonight, what they were going to wear (neither had decided on that) there drink and hangover plans for the next day . However as Lydia sat in Latin the clock seem to move slower, as if time was in slow motion. 

_Party at my house 2mozz, starts at 7:30 ends whenever. Screw school on Monday. Alcohol here, food here, pool here. Be there  \- Stiles_

She thinks back to Stiles message, it causing a knot in her stomach. Something wasn't right, that evening Stiles had directly told her that he wasn't allowed parties, especially when Mr Spectre was way, and now he was throwing one hours after Mr Spectre has left. It didn't make sense. Mr Spectre didn't seem like the guy that would change his mind quickly. She looks up at the clock again: 2:32. She sighs. 

She and Allison decided that they will get ready together at Lydia's, then Scott will pick up the pair and take them to Stiles. Thankfully nor Scott and Allison had really talked about the ball or asked her any question, both seem preoccupied with the party tonight. While talking to Allison Lydia decided not to tell her about dinner with Stiles, she knew Allison would read into to much and would just make things awkward. If she was being honest there was another reason she didn't want to tell Allison, Allison would ask her loads of question that she knew she wouldn't be able to answer.

Why did you stay for dinner?

Was it platonic?

Why did you kiss his cheek? 

She didn't know. Her pocket suddenly started to glow, she reached down and slide her phone out of her skirt pocket. 

_ 'Everything is fine Ariel, no need to worry about me. Busy preparing for the party, I'll see you at 7, sadly no Chow Main this time' _

A small smile creeps onto her face, the memory of there meal still fresh. She liked that side of Stiles, she wished her was around more often. She still isn't convinced that everything is fine but it appears thats all she is going to get for now. She puts the phone back into her pocket and sits up in her seat, looking at the chalk board. 

~~~~~~~~~

5:30

Stiles puts the last stack of red party cup on the kitchen counter. Stiles has spent the day out buying supplies for his party. Four stacks of red cups towering on the side, a group spread out on the kitchen island ready to play beer pong, a small white ball placed in one of the cups. A large bowl on the other counter, filled with different drink, Stiles has lost count of which ones. The cupboard which is usually filled with drink is now bare, not a bottle left, he has a week to fill it up again, or maybe he will leave it bare, he'll already be in trouble anyway, so why not go the whole way. He looks around the kitchen and living room, the place set up. Outside by the pool tables set up by the deck chairs with cups and drinks laid out for people. He takes a finale look before heading up stairs.

He opens his door and walks in. Stiles feels something shatter under his foot, he looks down to see a piece of glass on the floor, shattered. Stiles sighs, he knows he should clean this mess up, but he just can't, he doesn't want to see what he did to the picture of his parents, the one thing he holds dear to him. He feels guilty, feel guilty for destroying the last present his mother gave him, for blaming them. None of this was their fault, it was Stiles, he knew this. To a point it wasn't even Mr Spectres fault, there have been times when Stiles had a choices of what to say, one that would make Mr Spectre happy and one that would piss him off and he would choose the later. Stiles bends down and picks up the frame, the picture inside still in tack. He takes the picture out of the frame and places it on his bed. He grabs the bin next to his bed and puts the frame and glass inside. Unsure what to do with the picture he places it on his desk, directly in front of his mirror. Next is the bath room.

Stiles walks in and at first glance it looks like a horror film, shattered glass, blood. He walks over to the sink and looks down, his stomach turns. Stiles never did deal well with the sight of blood, not this amount. He quickly turns the tap and the red fades away, leaving just the mirror pieces. Stiles picks up the shards and puts them into the bin, being careful not to drop them. Stiles is unsure what to do with his mirror, large shards still holding on, he decides to leave the mirror. Back in his room Stiles looks at the clock.

5:50

He sits down on his bed and lays back, thinking. Something finally dawns on Stiles. This will be the first time he has seen Lydia since she came to the house, since she kissed him goodbye. Stiles knows that she only did that because she was flirting, it didn't mean anything, right? The other night with Lydia was nice, it was like two friends hanging out, it was relaxed. Stiles feels happy and relaxed when he's with her, his usual stress and anxiety lessened, still there, but manageable. Stiles feels a twinge in his hand, the pain still present, Stiles unable to take any pain killers due to the large amount of alcohol he will be drinking tonight. The pain rips Stiles from his thoughts, he sits up on his bed and holds his hand. He knows he probably should of gone to the hospital, got them to probably clean it and make sure there is no more glass in it, but doing that would alert Miss McCall to the injury and he really didn't want to explain, especially with his black eye still present. Stiles rolls over on his bed and checks his phone.

6:15

Apparently Stiles had been thinking about Lydia for longer than he thought, not that meant anything.

~~~~~~~~~

"Skirt and crop top or dress?" Lydia holds up the dress and the skirt, holding them against her body to show Allison.

Allison stays quite, narrowing her eyes, clearly taking the question very carefully. She stays quite, before finally siting up on the bed.

"Skirt and crop top!" Allison announces, standing up and walking over to Lydia, grabbing the dress and holding it up to herself, looking in the mirror, she looks over to Lydia giving her a wide smile, batting her eye lashes.

"Yes, you can borrow my dress" Lydia laughs, walking into the bath room and shutting the door. Allison walks over to the bed and lies on her stomach resting her chin in the palm of her hands, her ankles crossed in the air.

"So...how was the work party," Allison had refrained from asking this question all day, wanting to wait till the girls were alone, hoping Lydia would open up more if Scott wasn't around. 

Lydia gives a small sighs from the bathroom, quite enough that Allison can't hear, she was hoping this question wasn't going to come up.

"Was fine thanks" Lydia replies in the most monotone voice she can, giving nothing away. A frown appears on Allison's face, obviously Lydia isn't going to give up the information that easily.

"Fine, thats it?" Allison clearly wants more information, she stands up from the bed and walks closer to the bath room, leaning against the door.

"Yeah, because thats all it was, fine!" She pulls the top over her head and moves her hair to the side, examining her outfit.

"Okay, whatever you say Lydia!" Allison gives a small smile before moving away from the door when she hears Lydia turning the door handle. Lydia opens the bathroom door and stands forward, putting her arms to the side. Lydia has a dark red mini skirt on with a white short sleeved crop top. She has black high heels to complete her look.

Allison gives her a huge smile "Oh my god Lydia you look amazing!" Allison picks up the dress and walks towards the bath room, closing the door. "Stiles is going to love it" Allison comments from behind the door. 

"I'm not wearing it for Stiles!" Lydia takes a seat at her desk and starts to put her make up on. 

"Okay, okay" Allison clearly doesn't believe her, Lydia shakes her head.

"I don't know why you keep pushing this whole 'me and Stiles' thing" Lydia turns around the face the door, waiting for Allison to reply.

"Because you two obviously want each other, you constantly flirt at school and your being all mysterious about what happened at the work event"

"Okay, one; he flirts. Two; I'm not being mysterious, nothing happened at the event, theres nothing to tell!" The bathroom door opens and Allison walks out wearing a tight black dress with black high heels, she gives Lydia a mischievous grin before walking over and sitting on the bed. Lydia shakes her head and puts on her red lip stick, she looks in the mirror a finale time, she picks up her brush and gives her hair a quick comb, she decided to leave her hair straight tonight. A car horn sounds from, Lydia looks over at the clock; 7:25am, it must be Scott. Allison grabs her bag from the bed and the small jacket she brought with her. Lydia stands from her seat and grabs her phone, putting it in her small black clutch bag. The girls make there way down the stairs and out the door, Scott is waiting in his car. Allison gives a wide smile before running over to the car window and giving her boyfriend a kiss.

Lydia gives a groan as she walks towards the car door. "Can't you guys wait until the party?" The pair give a embarrassed smile, Allison's face going slightly red. Allison gets in the passenger seat, Lydia in the back. It takes a short amount of time to reach Stiles house. The street is flooded with cars, parked in any space possible. The pair park up a few house from Stiles's and take a short walk to the house. The music from the house can be heard from a distance away. When they reach the house the music is blaring, the noise of kids filling the streets. The group walk up the stairs to the house and open the front door.


	12. The Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles party begins and sets in motion a chain of events that will change Stiles and Lydia's life forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here you go guyss, hope you enjoy it, lots of Stydia in this chapter!♥ 
> 
> Feel free to leave comments, love ya guys, thanks for all the support!

 

As soon as the door open the music and sound comes pouring out, Lydia guess around a hundred kids are scurrying around Stiles house, the hallway is crammed with people, people dancing to the loud music, people leaning against walls talking. The house loos very different from the last time she was there. The group push there way into the crowd, finally coming into the living room; which is filled with even more people. The smell of alcohol invades her nose, she looks around, some people familiar, some not. She turns her head to the left and sees him. Stiles is stood with a group of girls, the two closes to him leaning on him, one with her arm rapped around his neck, head resting on his shoulder. Lydia feels a slight sadness being in her stomach.

"Stiles!!" She hears Scott call out next to her, the boy is obviously to engrossed with the girls with him to notice.

"Stilinski!" Allison cries out and begins to walk towards Stiles, Stiles turns around and sees the group. He instantly leaves the group of girls, all but forgetting them, the two girls look saddened by the lose of Stiles. Scott walks up to Stiles and gives him a hug, the pair patting each other on the back, Scott pulls back and then pulls a horrified face.

"Dude what the hell happened to your face!" Lydia's head snaps to Stiles, trying to look at what Scott is referring to. It suddenly dawns on Lydia that Scott is referring to the black eye Stiles was sporting when she came to give back his jacket.

"Oh fell over and hit it on the side of my bed" Scott gives Stiles a quizzical look "Its a long story!" Stiles pats Scott on the back a finale time before moving and giving Allison a hug, he pulls back and gives her a wide smile, she reaches her hand up and moves his head, clearly looking at the bruise.

"Your such an idiot Stiles" Allison gives a sweet smile before giving Stiles a friendly slap on the check, careful to avoid his eye. She doesn't see Stiles and Lydia interact that much but its clear from there few interactions that they clear for each other.

Stiles gives a chuckle "Thanks Allison" He gives her a wink before motioning his hand around the room "Help yourself to drink, go wild!" He gives Allison a small push, Scott grabs Allison's hand and the pair start to walk off hand in hand, saying hello to people as they walk away, Allison quickly turns around. 

"I'll catch up with you in a bit Lydia" She gives a playful smile and a wink before disappearing into the crowd. Lydia turns her head and sees Stiles, he's wearing a white Ralph Lauren shirt with black jeans, he gives her a large smile before walking up to her, his hands in his pockets.

"Looking beautiful as always Ariel" He gives her a wink, swaying slightly on his feet. She mimics his actions, taking a step closer to Stiles, tilting her head, looking at him.

"Looking okay yourself" She folds her arms over her chest, raising her eye brows at him. Stiles leans back, putting his hand on her chest, taking a over the top breath, faking sadness.

"Only okay? I think we can both agree I look breathtaking" Stiles motions his hands to his outfit, doing a small spin for Lydia. Lydia shakes her head, trying to hide her smile.

"Maybe slightly above okay" She admits, giving a small nod to him, her eyes looking at his outfit, starting at his shirt, which if she is being honest, she loves, the white shirt fits Stiles perfectly and the small logo on the left hand side. She stops her nodding and takes a step closer. "You know what would make it better-" Lydia reaches her hands out and grabs Stiles arm, she takes his wrist and turns it over, exposing the silver cufflink that holds the sleeves together. She undoes the cufflink, placing them in her bag, she then proceeds to roll up his sleeve, coming to a stop at his elbow. She can feel the heat from his arm radiating onto her hands. She repeats the action with the other arm. She pulls back and takes another look at the outfit, tilting her head. She gives a nob before taking the beer out of Stiles hand and taking a swig. Stiles looks stunned, standing perfectly still, thinking about it this is probably the first time she's seen him speechless. Stiles seems to compose himself, he shakes his head and takes a step closer to Lydia, looking down at her, his whiskey orbs connecting with her green ones. He reaches out and takes the beer from her hand, his hand lingering for a second. Stiles takes a sip of his beer, not moving away from Lydia.

"Party looks like its in full swing" Lydia finally speaks up, trying to break the silence that had fallen upon them

Stiles gives a small nod, taking a swig of the beer.

"Well I am the master of throwing parties!" Stiles loudly announces, motioning with his beer. Lydia can tell Stiles has had a few to drink, his voice loud and swaying very so lightly on his feed. Lydia gives a smile, shaking her head. "What? Why you shaking your head Ariel"? She looks up at Stiles, a wide smile on his face. She doesn't say anything just laughs, Stiles joins in with her laughing. "Want a drink?" Stiles points towards the large assortment of drink on on the counter top.

"Sure, wouldn't pass up on free drink" Stiles puts his hand on Lydia's back and begins to direct her thought the crowd, trying to keep her on course and stop people from knocking into her. Lydia can feel the heat from his hand burning through her top The pair reach the kitchen, the drink lined up. Lydia looks at all the drink, overwhelmed with choice. 

"Having trouble deciding there?" She cocky voice appearing from behind.

She turns around, Stiles face is closer to hers than she thought, she pauses, looking at the boy. "Give me a second" She replies with a similar cocky attitude. She turns her head back round, she suddenly hears Stiles very close to her ear.

"Oh you can have all the time in the world, i'll wait" Lydia gives a small smile before finally picking a bottle of beer, and undoing the top. She turns around, facing Stiles, leaning back on the counter. She takes a sip of her drink, looking at Stiles. She looks over Stiles shoulder and notices one of the girls from earlier looking at her and Stiles, a scowl on her face.

"I think someone is missing you" Stiles gives Lydia a confused look, she points over his shoulder with his beer. Stiles turns around and sees the girl standing there. She instantly perks up, giving Stiles a wave and a flirtatious smile, Stiles gives the girl a awkward wave before turning back to Lydia. "Not going to go over, you two seemed pretty friendly earlier?"

"Is that a hint of jealous I hear Miss Marin?" Stiles takes a step closer to Lydia, resting his hand on the counter behind her, looking down at her.

"Just a observation, don't get to excited sweetheart" Lydia calmly replies, acting very nonchalant. If Lydia was being honest with herself there was a hint of jealously in her voice, not that she was going to admit that to Stiles, she barely wanted to admit it to herself. The pair stay still before Lydia finally pushes past Stiles, moving his arm, she walks forward and takes a seat on the stools, Stiles follows her and stands in front. "So what changed Mr Spectres mind then?" Stiles eyes which were wondering suddenly focused on her, staring straight at her.

"What?" The boy sounded confused at her question, his eyebrows pulled together.

"The other day you said you weren't allowed parties when Mr Spectre is away and now your throwing a party, while he's away?" Lydia gives a little chuckle at the end. Stiles doesn't chuckle. He doesn't say anything, he just looks at her, staying silent. His eyes dart around the room before finally coming back to her. 

"Uhh-he-he changed his mind" Stiles gives a quick smile, rubbing the back of his neck and looking around the room

"Changed his mind? I thought you said he was kinda a-"

"I know what I said Lydia you don't have to tell me!" Lydia looks at Stiles, he looks very tense, his fists clenched and breathing quickly.

"I was just asking" Her tone is very forceful, she was trying to be nice and the boy had almost bitten her head off, Stiles doesn't say anything and neither does she. This is why she hated him, he would be so kind and flirty like when he cooked her dinner an- Lydia starts to think about the other night and something dawns on her, something that she should of noticed early.

"Bed?" Lydia pipes up, her eyes going wide, looking straight at Stiles.

"What?" Stiles looks annoyed at this, clearly not understanding what she was on about.

"You told Scott you got a black eye from hitting it on the bed" Stiles gives her a 'so what' look, not understanding why she is bringing this up. Lydia rises from her seat and gets closer to Stiles, folding her arms.

"You told me you hit it on the desk?" Stiles freezes, his face going slightly pale. He opens his mouth as he is going to say something but he then closes it again. Stiles looks down and rubs the back of his neck, he pause before brining his head back up, more colour to his face.

"Oh, the drink must be getting to me" Stiles gives a small chuckle, shaking his head and pointing to his drink, he gives Lydia a pat on the shoulder before turning around and walking off. She doesn't know why she does it but something snaps inside of her. She grabs Stiles arm, stopping him from walking away, he turns around and looks at her, giving a loud sigh. "Lydia its just a black eye just-"

"How did you get it?" Lydia asks forcefully, she wanted to know what happened and she was going to find out.

"I told you-" Stiles gets closer to her.

"No, you told me a lie how did you get it?" Lydia keeps her forceful tone, getting closer to Stiles

"Why does it matter?" He throws his arms out to the side, taking a step back from her, trying to distance himself from her.

"Because I don't like being lied to, just tell me what happened?" Lydia's is getting annoyed, shaking her head she throws her arms out like Stiles, her voice raising, the loud music make it so only her and Stiles heard.

"I did!" Stiles yells, his eyes wide with annoyance, his fist clenched at the side.

"What happened Stiles!?" Lydia yells back, she doesn't know why she is so angry, she barely knows Stiles, but theres something about the boy that infuriates her, he acts like he is a open book, everything for everyone to see, but Lydia can see past that. He's hiding something, hiding behind the sarcasm and flirting. For once Lydia wants the truth.

Stiles doesn't say anything, he runs his hand through his hair and runs it down his face, he turns around and goes to walk away, Lydia reaches out and grabs his arm again, her tiny hands wrapping around his wrist, clutching, her knuckles going white. Stiles whirls rounds, pulling his wrist out of her grip, taking a few steps back. The pair stay silent. Both looking at each other with intensity, there faces inches apart. Stiles chest rising and falling quickly. The silence continues for a while, neither moving or speaking. Finally Lydia takes a step back, taking a deep breath and shaking her head.

"Thanks for the drink" Lydia mumbles, she turns around grabbing her drink and walking away, pushing past the drunken people stumbling onto her.

Stiles closes his eyes and sighs, his hands slightly shaking. He takes a deep breath, picking up his beer and downing the rest. He turns around and grabs another beer off the counter and begins drinking the new one. He hated it. He hates lying her. He didn't even notices the slip up, he is usually so sure of his lies, all arranged like books in a bookshelf. Stiles finishes the beer and puts it on the counter, walking away into the crowd. 

Lydia finally makes her way through the crowd, sick of all the drunken people spilling drink on her. She reaches the stairs and climbs them quickly. She makes her way into the hallway which is also flooded with people. Lydia sighs, pushing pass the people, trying to find the bathroom. She finally reaches it, luckily no queue is present. She throws open the door and locks it quickly, stopping anyone from entering. She walks over to the sink and leans on the edge, looking down into the sink. She takes a few breaths, trying to compose herself. She was bewildered as to why she was this hurt at Stiles lack of honesty, she just wanted to know the real Stiles, she liked him. Not the Stiles that flirts with her constantly, always winks at her and says vulgar things, but the Stiles told her about his family, who gave her his jacket, who cooked her dinner. A knock from the door startles Lydia, causing her to jump back.

"I'll be out in a second!" Lydia yells back, trying to get her voice above the music. She takes a breath and looks in the mirror, fixing her hair before walking to the door and unlocking it. She opens the door and gives the girl waiting a small smile, walking back into the sea of people. She moves through the crowd, trying to avoid the constantly moving people, suddenly a elbow goes into Lydia shoulder, pushing her back. She stumbles and falls into a door behind her, sending it flying open. Luckily Lydia grabs onto the door frame before she can fall onto the floor. She pulls herself up and flattens her dress down. Lydia quickly turns around to see where she it. A large room, covered in blue wall paper, a large window overlooking the street. She slowly turns around and looks at the room. Walking in she can make out a large oak desk in front of the window, covered in paper and texts book-she must be in Stiles room. She thinks about leaving, not wanting to invade his personal space, however something catches her eye. On the desk there are three pictures; one of Stiles and Scott, the pair looking much younger wearing lacrosse outfits, Lydia guess about 15. The next is Scott, Stiles and Allison, the picture looks like there in a field of some sort, the trio smiling and holding beers. Its the picture in front of the mirror that draws Lydia in. Walking forward she picks up the picture. A woman, about thirty years old, long brown hair and warm brown eyes smiling. A man, light brown hair and a friendly face, dressed in a smart suit. In between the couple is a young boy, floppy brown hair and brown eyes, eyes she recognise. The young boy must be Stiles, the man his farther and the woman-

"I was 11" The voices cause Lydia to jump, she spins around. Stiles is stood in the door frame, leaning against it. He begins to walk towards her. "We had to go to this event for my farther, he was the sheriff. I really enjoyed going to his work stuff, getting to be around other cops and being with my family." Stiles reaches Lydia, leaning against the desk, looking at the picture in Lydia's hands. "My mom insisted that we get a picture before we left. The next week it was my birthday, she gave it to me as a present, in this silver frame with family written on it." Lydia turns her head, a sad smile has covered Stiles face, his eyes looking slightly wet. "A week after my birthday me and my dad were at the cinema watching this film, I can't even remember what film it was" Stiles gives a small sad chuckle. "I really hated the film, so I made my dad leave, said he would ring my mom and get her to pick us up, he rang her up and she said she would be here there in five minutes" Stiles stops talking, his lip slightly quivering, he bits the bottom lip in a attempt to stop it. "After about twenty minutes there was nothing, she didn't turn up, no phone call. Then my dad got a call from the hospital, my mom was involved in a car accident on the way to picking us up, she was rushed to hospital and was in surgery and we needed to get there. My dad called a friend and he came and drove us to the hospital. I didn't even know what was going on, my dad just kept saying 'mommies injured and we have to go see her' we finally got there, my dad ran and and found a doctor." Once again Stiles stops talking, Lydia looks over, to her surprise a single tear is making its way down his check, slowing before falling off onto to desk. "She never made it off the table" The room falls silent.

Stiles runs his hands over his face, wiping his tears away. He gets up from the desk and walks over to his bed sitting on it. "It was just me and my dad after that and when he-" Stiles takes a deep breath as having to prepare himself. 

"You don't have to tell me stiles" Lydia whispers, the anger from earlier all but gone. She still wants Stiles to be honest with her, to tell her the truth. She knows that Stiles has his walls built up high, trying to keep people at arms length, she just going to have to wait until he is ready to talk. She still doesn't understand why she is so desperate to know so much about him.

"I thought you said-"

"I know what I said Stile you don't have to tell me" Lydia repeats Stiles comment from earlier, mincing his voice and movement. Stiles gives a smile before starting to laugh. Lydia leans back on the desk, also laughing. Lydia looks down, the picture still in her hands, she turns around and puts it on the desk, walking over and sitting next to Stiles.

"When I was walking back from the work do on Saturday I bumped into this jerk from School, I had a couple of drink and wasn't in the best mood and he was being a asshole, we exchanged some words and the next thing I know I'm on the floor with a black eye" Lydia looks at Stiles, his face looks guilty, like he's ashamed of what happened. 

"Why didn't you just say that?" Lydia asks quietly, a small smile on her face, happy that Stiles is actually telling her the truth.

"Because its embarrassing, got knocked out by one punch, doesn't do much for my reputation" Stiles shakes his head, trying to advert her eye contact.

"Your reputation?" Lydia laughs, giving Stiles a confused look.

"Yeah my reputation, don't know if you know this Lydia but I'm kinda of a celebrity around here" Stiles gives her a smile before standing up from the bed. "Well we should probably get back to the party, people might think were up to something" Stiles gives her a wink, motioning his eyes towards the bed.

"Well those people must be stupid then" Lydia gives a confident smile before turning around and starting to leave the room, she pause when Stiles doesn't follow.

"I'll be down it a moment" Stiles speaks up. Lydia gives a smile before leaving the room. The smile form Stiles face falls, a frown taking its replace. He falls back on the bed, his hands covering his eyes. He just told a lie to get out of telling a lie, he didn't know what else to do, how to make it up to her, the only way he knew how to fix things was through lying. Finally Stiles gets up from the bed and begins to walk towards the door, he pauses, slowly turning around to look at the picture on the desk. Stiles quickly smiles before leaving the room. 

Lydia makes her way back into the living room, and although it seems impossible there seems to be more people. She pushes through and makes her way to the large door leading to the pool. Once thorough the doors she is greeted by fresh air, clearing smell of beer and sweat from her nose. She takes a few step, her heels clicking on the wooden deck. The pool is very large, about two meters long, inflatable lie lows covering the pool ranging from rings to animals. Around the pool is various deck chairs and tables. She keeps walking until she comes to the edge of the pool, looking down. A few people are in the pool, clearly the amount of alcohol they have consumed making them believe this is a good idea. 

"Thinking of going for a dip?" She turns around and sees Stiles walking towards her with two beers. She takes one of the beers and takes a sip, shaking her head.

"Didn't bring my bikini so-" Lydia shrugs her shoulders, shaking her head.

"Don't need a bikini to go swimming Lydia" She quickly turns her head towards him, a mischievous smile on his face. She opens her mouth about to say something but Stiles beats her to it. "I'm not talking about skinny dipping Lydia, god is that all you think of?" Stiles shakes his head with fake disgust. 

"You were the one that said it not me" Lydia raises her hands up in mock defence.

"Come one be spontaneous Lydia, have fun!" Stiles gets closer to Lydia, his face inches from hers.

"I can have fun without being an idiot" She calmly replies, taking a sip on her drink. Stiles pause, he takes a sip of his drink before grabbing the beer form her hands and walking over to a table close to them, walking back to her.

"What are you doing St-" Before Lydia can finish her sentence Stiles picks her up and throws her over his shoulder. "Stiles! Stiles put me down. Stiles!" Lydia kicks her feet and tries to push herself off the boy, just causing him to tighten his grip. "Stiles-" darkness floods her vision, the warm air being replaced by freezing water. Lydia struggles under the water before a pair of hands grab her waist, bring her up to the surface. Lydia takes a large breath, allowing the air to enter her lungs. Opening her eyes she sees Stiles in front of her, his white shirt soaked through, sticking to his body, his styled hair now plastered on his face.

"What the hell Stiles!" Lydia screams, moving her arms in the water trying to stay afloat.

"You only live once Lydia, got to make the most of it!" Stiles laughs, shaking his head trying to keep the water out of his eyes.

"I hate you Stiles" Lydia replies, giving a small smile, looking away from Stiles.

"No you don't" Its only now that Lydia realise that Stiles hands are gripping her waist, holding her tight.

"Yes I do" Lydia speaks a little closer to Stiles, allowing him to wrap his hands around her waist, pulling her close.

"No you don't" Stiles whispers, his face inches from hers. Neither do anything, suddenly Stiles starts to move his face closer to hers, his eyes moving from her lips to her eyes. 

"What are you doing?" Lydia whispers, her breath coming out in quick breaths

"Being spontaneous, you should try it" Stiles whispers, his face growing closer.

Lydia observes the boy in front of her, the way his eyes are moving around her face and how it grows closer to her, the coldness of the pool a distance memory, it being replaced by a fiery heat. "Maybe I will" Lydia quickly replies, all rational though and reason is washed away from Lydia's mind, it being replaced by one single thought.

What the hell.

Lydia grabs the collar of Stiles shirt and crashes her lips into his, Stiles hands around her tighten, moving up her body resting on her back. The kiss is warm and familiar, the pair fitting together and moving like a synchronised dance and Lydia wonders why they haven't done this before. Stiles deepens the kiss, pulling Lydia closer, her hands releasing from his collar and moving around his neck, Lydia moves her-

"Stiles" A loud booming voice erupts through the garden, Lydia and Stiles pull away quickly, Stiles turning around in the water to see who interrupted his movement with Lydia. A deep coldness fills Stiles, as if he has been suspended in ice, his hands which are still around Lydia begin to shake, but not because of the pool. His heart quickens, the pace picking up, the beating ringing in Stiles ear. Stiles face goes a shade of white similar to his shirt.

"Mr Spectre" Stood at the edge of the pool, with a dark suit and bag, a look on his face which cause Stiles to want to go under water and never come up, is Mr Spectre, the man that Stiles hated and the man that was meant to be away. Stiles doesn't know what to do, he's frozen in his position, unable to move or say anything else. Mr Spectre turns around and looks at the children whom have gathered around him.

"I want everyone out of my house now" He calmly announces, nobody moves, the music still baring from the speaker.

"NOW" The man yells, this cause everyone to leave, the sound of plastic cups hitting the floor echoing through out the garden. People exits though the back garden, others go through the house. Somewhere along the way someone has turned the music off. Soon enough the majority of people have left, one or two still hanging around the front garden. Stiles is still in the pool with Lydia, both unmoving.

"Get. Out" The man demands, this was clearly not a question but an order. Lydia looks to her side at Stiles. The boy looked petrified, his eyes wide open and mouth hung over, still unmoving. Lydia removes her hand from around Stiles neck, Stiles takes a step forward and stop, clearly fearing getting out of the pool. Lydia reaches her hand out and grabs hold of his hand. He turns around, she gives him a small supportive smile, he doesn't smile back at her, just turns his head around and begins to walk out of the water. The pair finally exit the water, standing in front of Mr Spectre, there hands still clasped together. Mr Spectre takes a step forward, looking at them. 

"I think we need to talk Stiles" His voice is still scarily calm, no hint of emotion. 

Lydia can feel Stiles grip on her hand tighten "I'll stay and help tidy up" Lydia speaks up, a small smile on her face.

"I think its best if you leave Miss Martin" Although the words suggested that is was a question, it was not.

"Really I don't-"

"You should leave Lydia" Stiles finally speaks up, his voice isn't forceful or demanding like Mr Spectres, its not emotionless, its the opposite; despair, desperation, terror filling his voice. Lydia wants to argue, she doesn't want to leave Stiles alone, not in the state he is, not with Mr Spectre. Stiles can sense her worry, he gives her hand another squeeze, turing his head he looks down at her, a tiny smile on his face, one he is obviously faking for her benefit. She returns Stiles smile before turing and giving Mr Spectre a finale look. Coldness, thats all she feels when he looks at her, nothing but coldness. She turns around and walks back into the house, grabbing her bag off the table, she quickly makes her way to the door, her hand about to turn the handle when she stops, she turns around and gives a finale look to Stiles. She thinks back to the first day of school, when she met the boy with whiskey eyes and a cocky smile. Its hard to think these two boy are the same. She opens the door and walks out into the warm night air.

She opens her bag and grabs her phone, 

_'me and scott are leaaving early, see you at scchool tommorrow if your not hungoveerrr, have fun with stiles ;)'_

Lydia sighs, Scott was meant to be her ride home, Lydia really doesn't want to ring her mother, she is still probably working. Lydia shakes her head and decides that she is going to have to walk back. The fresh air allowing Lydia to process what has happened, what she's done.

They kissed.

Stiles and Lydia kissed.

Lydia Martin kissed Stiles Stilinski.

It doesn't seem real, seems like all some crazed dream that she's going to wake up from at any time. She doesn't wake up. What happened was real. She doesn't know why she did it, she couldn't even blame the drink, she had a couple of beers, thats all. Maybe now she's done it will be out of her system, a one time thing, something they will all laugh about in years to come. She knows this isn't true, she knows this was more than just a meaningless drunken kiss, emotion and feelings hidden behind. Lydia gets home quicker than she thought, her thinking passing the time. Lydia unlocks the front door and enters her house, locking it behind her. She leans against the door for a few second. Turning around and putting her back against the door, sliding down, coming to a sitting potion on the floor, her legs pulled up to her chest. What is she going to do at school tomorrow, how many people saw them kissing? What is she going to tell people when they ask, when Scott and Allison asked what happened, why did they kiss what did it mean?

What did it mean? Lydia had no idea, did it meant they both shared feeling for each other, deeper than just friendship? Was it just a one time thing, never to happened again? Lydia didn't know, her head was spinning with questions-

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Lydia jumps from her position on the floor, backing away from the closed door. Who the hell was knocking at her door? Lydia takes a step closer to the door, her hand pausing over the door handle, finally she opens the door. What greeted her shocked her to her core, her legs almost giving out from under her, having to use the door for support, the hand gripping the door shaking. Lydia's mouth falls open, her wide eyes filling with unshed tears. It had only taken Lydia fifteen to get home. How did this happen in fifteen minutes.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be continued...
> 
> Next chapter should be up by Sunday latest!


	13. After The Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING. WARNING. WARNING.  
> Okay so there is abuse in this section, nothing to graphic but it is described in a scene and is quite lengthy. There is also so mention of pass abuse later on in the chapter but its not graphic. Super sorry for the late post, blame my crapy computer! Can't specify when the next chapter will be up but I'm hoping it will be up by this Sunday. Love ya guyss!

_Lydia jumps from her position on the floor, backing away from the closed door. Who the hell was knocking at her door? Lydia takes a step closer to the door, her hand pausing over the door handle, finally she opens the door. What greeted her shocked her to her core, her legs almost giving out from under her, having to use the door for support, the hand gripping the door shaking. Lydia's mouth falls open, her wide eyes filling with unshed tears. It had only taken Lydia fifteen to get home. How did this happen in fifteen minutes._

15 minutes ago.

Stiles watches as Lydia walks through the house, her wet clothes dripping onto the floor, avoiding beer bottles and cups on the floor. She gets to the door and gives Stiles a finale look before disappearing out of sight. Stiles worries about how she will get home, Scott and Allison having left early to do god knows what, luckily the air is warm tonight, possibly helping to dry Lydia's clothes, Stiles would of called her a taxi or something if he weren't frozen still. Once Lydia has gone he turns back to look at Mr Spectre, the man is tense. His arms are crossed over his chest, his mouth in a tight thin line. The man uncrosses his arms, picking up his bag next to him and walking inside the house, not saying anything. Stiles hates this. When he doesn't say anything, the silence is worse than anything, the constant fear of something happen. Stiles pause before walking in after him. Mr Spectre walks in a slowly and places his bag on the kitchen counter top, moving the beer bottles to the side.

"I drove all the way up to the airport and then got a message saying the meeting was cancelled because the boss of the New York firm's mother had a heart attack, so I stayed in a hotel for the night" Mr Spectre starts to undo his jacket, sliding it off him arm and walking into the living room.

"I spent today doing a little bit of work trying to arrange another meeting, I left the hotel about two hours ago, excited to come home and see my **son** " Mr Spectre basically spits out the last part, once his jacket is off he calmly throws it onto the couch, pausing before speaking.

"I pull into the drive to see hundreds of children running around my house, I can't remember organising a party?" The man walks back into the kitchen, taking a glass out of the cupboard, taking a bottle of whiskey off the side and pouring it into his glass, it running out before filling the glass Mr Spectre stops, looking down at the bottle, suddenly the bottle is flying across the room, narrowly missing Stiles face, the bottle crashes into the wall, glass flying everywhere, some falling onto Stiles.

"There is one rule in this house what is it?" Mr Spectre yells, his hands gripping the counter edge, knuckles going white.

Stiles stays silent, not saying anything, the fear of getting-

"WHAT IS IT!" Another glass is thrown across the room, Stiles quickly turns his body putting his hands up to protect his face, the glass avoiding his face by inches. Stiles removes his hands and sees Mr Spectre right in front of him, the man grabs Stiles wrist tight, Stiles can already feel the bruise forming.

"I trusted you here alone! I trusted you with my house and look what you've done, look at it!! I have given you so much and this is how you treat me, this is how you respect me-"

"Respect you? You think I respect you?" Stiles rips his wrist from Mr Spectres grip, getting close to the mans face, screaming. "I don't! I never have and never will!"

Stiles face is met with a fist, making Stiles stumble back "I took you in! I gave you a home" Mr Spectre spits back.

"This isn't a home this is a house" Stiles turns his back to Mr Spectre, he immediately regrets this decision. Stiles feels a hand grip his shoulder turning him around quickly, before Stiles can stop it a fist collides into Stiles stomach, winding him instantly, another blow to the stomach sends Stiles to the floor, his hands wrapped around his stomach.

"It was a home until you came here, you ruined everything, you drove her away!" The man yells above Stiles, looking down at him with such anger

"That wasn't me that was you!" Stiles manages to get out, his voice coming out breathy and quick. "Your the one that hit her! Your the one that drank and worked-"

"You little shit, how dare you!" He leans down and grabs Stiles shirt pulling him up, he pushes Stiles back into the wall, the back of hit head crashing into it, causing Stiles to feel nauseous. Mr Spectres face is inches from Stiles "Everything was fine before you, I should of never taken you in!" He pulls on Stiles shirt and throws him onto the floor, Stiles tries to get up from the floor, when a shoe comes crashing into Stiles ribs, the force knocking him to the ground.

"You know your problem stiles, you blame everyone else for your mistake" Stiles tries to lift his head from the floor, the pain in him chest causing him to fall back down.

"I-" Stiles attempt at speaking is cut off by another blow to the ribs

"You drove my wife away, you destroyed my marriage, my life" 

"That-" Mr Spectre reaches down and grabs Stiles pulling him up, Stiles sways on his feet, unable to stand by himself due to the pain in his chest.

"Your the reason you dad was working the night he died-" A blow to the face causes Stiles to fly to the side, Mr Spectres grip on his collar is the only thing stopping him from collapsing.

"It wa-" Stiles tries to defend himself, the words getting caught in his throat. Mr Spectre delivers a finale blow to his face, releasing his collar, Stiles falls the the side, his legs giving out from under him. Stiles whole body crashes to the floor.

"Your the reason your mother is dead" The man above Stiles spits out, the venom clearly evident in his voice. He leans down, putting his face close to Stiles, his voice now just above a whisper. "If it wasn't for you your family would still be alive, you killed them" A silence falls upon the room, neither party saying anything. Mr Spectre rises from his position, straightening his shirt out."Get the fuck out of my house. I don't want to see your face for the rest of the night" With that the man turns around and leaves the room. Stiles can hear him walk up the stairs and go into his room, the door closing.

The room is silent. Glass shattered on the floor, cups and bottles everywhere, Stiles still laying on the floor, after a while Stiles tries to pull himself up. Placing one hand on the floor and pushing himself onto his knees, Stiles stops, catching his breath, a sharp pain begin in his chest and ribs, like a knife has been pushed into his chest and is stuck. After a second Stiles pushes himself up onto his feet, his legs almost give out, Stiles having to grab onto the wall behind him, the knock to the head earlier causing him to feel dizzy. Stiles stumbles through the house, grabbing his keys off the side. Stiles bounces from wall the wall, trying to regain his balance. He throws open the door, stumbling towards his car. He knows he shouldn't be driving. He's been drinking, he's not drunk but he's not sober enough to drive. At this point Stiles doesn't know what else to do, he can't walk anywhere, the fear of collapsing to real. Stiles clambers into his car, his head falling onto the head rest behind. Stiles closes his eyes, the pain growing in his ribs, his face stinging. Stiles hands grip the wheel, he opens his eyes and leans forward, turning the ignition key, pausing. Where would he go? He couldn't go to Scott, his mom would be home and theres no way he could explain this to her, her medical background would expose Stiles lies, for a minute he thinks about going to Erica's, the pair have grown close over the year, developing a brother/sister relationship, which seems weird seeing how they started. Stiles shakes his head, he couldn't go to Erica's, Boyd would be there and Stiles didn't have the effort to explain this to him as well. Suddenly Stiles finds himself driving, already made up in his mind where he is going. Who he is going to see.

Stiles car comes to a halt, he throws open the door and almost falls out, gripping onto the door for support. Stiles doesn't know if this is a good idea, scratch that, he knows this isn't a good idea, but he doesn't care. Stiles makes him way down the path stopping at the door. 

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Stiles uses all the strength he can muster to knock on the door, his fist rests on the door, stopping himself from falling. Stiles lets his head forward, resting on the door. He breaths. The pain in his chest causing Stiles to take a sharp breath. Stiles just wants to sleep, he wants to lean against this door and sleep. He wants to go home, not the house he is currently living in but the home he use to live in. With the warm room and cosy bed, where his mum would come in every night and kiss him good night, tell him how much she loves him, how everything will be okay-suddenly the door in front of him is gone, Stiles falls forward unable to stop himself, he feels a pair of hands on his chest, stopping him from falling to the ground. He lifts his head up to see Lydia, her eyes wide with fear and unshed tears. She tiny hands feel warm against his chest causing him to shiver. She moves her hands down slightly, Stiles yelps as they press against his ribs, which he's pretty certain is fractured or at best bruised. 

"Stiles! oh my god what happened?" He voice is one of pure fear, she moves her hands from her chest and puts one around his neck the other around his hips, walking him into the house. They walk over to the living room and Lydia carefully places Stiles on the sofa, careful not to touch his chest which is obviously causing him pain. Stiles slumps on the sofa, his head rolling back onto the sofa, his eyes closing.

"Stiles? Stiles what happened?" Stiles opens his eyes and sees Lydia knelt in front of him, her tiny hands resting on his knee.

"Long-Long story" He manages to get the words out of mouth, his energy fading fast.

"Long story?" Lydia gets up from the floor, her voice sounding shocked, clearly she isn't happy with this answer. Stiles goes to say something when Lydia turns around, walking into the kitchen. After a few seconds she comes back holding her car key, she walks over to Stiles.

"Going somewhere?" Stiles tries to keep his tone light hearted.

"Yeah were going to the hospital" She reaches forward to help Stiles off the sofa

"What?" Stiles whole body goes rigid, sinking back into the sofa.

"You need to see a doctor" Her tone is forceful, she once again tries to reach forward, Stiles moves out her way trying to get up off the sofa.

"Lydia I'm Fine!" Stiles tries to get up from the sofa, the pain in is ribs causing him to fall backswords into the sofa, his arm wrapping around his chest.

"Stiles you can barely stand up or stay awake you need to go to the hospital" Lydia motions her hands to the crumpled up body on the sofa.

"I'm not going" He finally manages to get up from the sofa, having to take a pause to catch his breath.

"What?" Her eyes go wide, her mouth falls open. She was not expecting this answer.

"I'm not going to the hospital" His tone becomes forceful.

"Why?" Lydia is beyond perplexed.

"Its not that bad really" Stiles walks past Lydia, holding in the winces as he walks.

"Are you serious?" Her voice raises, her arms going out to the side "You've got blood on your face, a black eye, a bruise on your jaw and clearly somethings wrong with your ribs!!" As she list the injuries her voice becomes more frantic, the panic taking over her.

"I'm not going" He continues to walks past her when he falls her hand on his arm, stopping him from leaving.  

"Why?" She moves around to stand in front of Stiles, her face just inches from his, he can see her eyes studying his face. Taking in all his injuries, Stiles breaks the eye contact, looking away.

"Because!" Stiles yells, becoming frustrated at her questions.

"Because? Thats not a answer Stiles!" Her panic tone now replaced by a annoyed one. Stiles doesn't say anything, he rips his arm from her grip, the action harder than usual. "What happened?" her eyes pleading with Stiles. 

Neither say anything for a moment, Lydia waiting for Stiles to tell her, to tell her the truth, "This was a mistake" He chokes out.

Her heart sinks, the boy begins walking towards the door "No, no, you don't just get to walk into my house like this and then just leave!-" 

"I need to go" He tries to walk around her but Lydia is quicker, stopping the boy from reaching the door.

"Just tell me what happened!" Stiles stays silent, looking around the room, not looking at her in the eyes. "Who did this to you stiles?" This catches his attention, she can feel his arm tense up in her grip.

"Doesn't matter" He replies, still looking away from her, his voice just above a whisper.

"Doesn't matter?!" She shakes her head, shocked at how little Stiles seemed to care about his injuries. "it does matter Stiles. Just-just tell me, just trust me. Trust me." The air in the room suddenly becomes very thin, both of the pair holding there breath. Lydia looked at the broken boy in front of her, wondering how he got like this in just fifteen minutes.

She knows how he got like this. In the back of her mind she's always know, she knew how he got the black eye.

Lydia looks down at her hand, still wrapped around Stiles arm, thats when she notices it. It looks different from all the rest, its healed slightly. How did she not notice it all evening? On Stiles knuckles is a purple and green bruise, tiny cuts surrounding, a larger cut on the left hand side. A handprint shaped bruise also wrapped around his wrist. She release his arm. She doesn't know what compelled her to say it. Maybe it was the tiredness, maybe it was seeing Stiles in this state, whatever it is, she finally says it.

"It was him, wasn't it?" Her voice was barley above a whisper, she looks up at Stiles. His eyes snap to her. 

"Excuse me?" His voice is shaky.

"He did this to you, didn't he? Mr Spectre-" As soon as she mentions the name Stiles who demeanour changes, his pupils dilate and he clenches his fist. 

"You don't know what your talking about!" He pushes past her, the actions causing him to wince

"Yes i do!" Lydia no longer cares if the neighbours hear her yelling, she's wants a answer from Stiles, and she's going to get one.

"You don't!" He spins around to face her, the action causing him to sway on his feet, Stiles wants this conversation to end so he can get some sleep before he passes out.

"I know that whenever your around him you get tense and that when he came home the other night you stood in front of me like you were protecting me from something an-and you randomly got a black eye a night after arguing with him and when I saw you 15 minutes ago you were perfectly fine and now you can barley stand!" The tears begin to roll down her cheeks. "He did this to you, I now it! so just tell me, I can help"

"You can't!" His voice was firm, but on the inside he was falling apart, he wanted to tell her the truth more than anything, he did.

She rushes towards Stiles, taking his face in her hand "Yes I can stiles, we can tell some-".

He moves back from her, turning away from her before sitting down on the couch, his head in his hands. "No, Lydia you can not tell anybody about this okay?!"

"Your Joking?!" She walks over to the couch, kneeling in front of it.

He removes his head from his hands, looking at the girl in the eyes "No I'm not, you cant tell anybody that this happened!"

"Why not?" Lydia was losing her mind, she didn't understand, why doesn't he want help, she could help. Lydia's wet clothes have almost dried, her hair gone from straight to a complete mess, but she doesn't care. The only thing she cares about at the moment is helping Stiles.

"Because it will only make things worse!" Stiles runs his hands through his hair, squeezing his eyes shut.

"No theres people that can protect you!" Lydia raises from the floor, pacing in front of Stiles, her hair bouncy as she turns.

"Look Lydia" Stiles stands from the couch, pausing to catch his breath. "If you really want to help me then you can pretend that this never happened" Stiles gives her one finale look before walking pass her towards the door. This was a mistake. This whole evening. He should of never came here, everything was fine before this evening. He never meant to burden Lydia with his problems he-

"No. No I wont do it" Her voice is firm and unwavering. She walks over to Stiles, standing in front of him, her emerald green looking at him with a intensity he has never seen before. "Stiles you may be a ass most of the time and act like a complete jerk but some how despite my best efforts and against all reason I care about you, a lot and I'm not just going to let you leave and go back to that bastard. So no I wont forget about this." 

The room suddenly feels smaller, like all of the air has been taken out. Stiles tries to take a breath but no air goes in. Stiles decides to do something he hasn't done in a long time. He tells the truth.

"Last year we had a particularly nasty fight, I can't even remember what it was about. He knocked me about pretty good and I had had enough. I went to the police station and ask to speak to the sheriff. He took me into this room and left. About twenty minutes later he came back with Mr Spectre, unknown to me Mr Spectre was a good friend with the sheriff, the pair went to high school together. Mr Spectre took me home and..." Stiles doesn't finish the sentence, the look on his face telling Lydia everything she needs to know. "I had to go into hospital, when ever anybody asked what happened I told them I got into a fight with some kid. One of the doctors wasn't buying it, keep asking me questions. One days she brought in this guy from social services to ask me questions, I told him what I told everybody else. Mr spectre found out and the next day that doctor wasn't there, turns out she got transferred to another ward, the social guy suddenly came into a large amount of money and decided to take a leave of absence. A while latter I found out that Mr Spectre gives a large amount of money to the hospital and is one of there biggest funders, he also regularly plays golf with the Chief of Medicine. He is loved by everyone in this town, he has a great job and is in charge of a large company, he's not about to let the town find out he's a child beater." The phrase 'child beater' cause Lydia to feel sick, to think of all the pain Stiles has had to go through over the year.

"Theres got to be somebody you can tell" More tears fall from her eyes, Stiles story ripping fresh wounds in her heart

"Lydia everybody in this town sees me as-well like you said a ass." Another blow to Lydia's heart "I skip school, I have a terrible attitude, anybody I tell is just going to see a attention seeking little kid throwing his toys out of the pram."  


"I can tell them! Tell them what I saw-"

"Its our word against his. Who do you think there going to believe?" Neither say anything. "I know that this is confusing and difficult  to understand but- This is my life and I've learnt to deal with it. I've got one year left of high school and then I'm at collage" Stiles decides to leave out the part about the only collage he wants to go to rejecting him. 

"A lot can happen in a year" Her voice is quite.

"I've dealt with this for two year, I can deal with one more" Stiles lets out a small laugh, trying to lighten the mood.

Lydia opens her mouth to say something, Stiles takes a step closer to her  "I know what your going to say but Lydia I am begging you to just keep this between us-"

"I don't know if I can Stiles" Stiles closes his eyes, a tear spilling over the edge and running down his check. "I'm sorry" She is sorry, sorry that Stiles feel like there is no one that can help him- Lydia thought is interrupted by the sound of a car pulls into the drive. The pair turn to face the door.  "Crap, thats my mom" How was Lydia going to explain this to her.

Stiles feels like someone has kicked him in the chest again, if Lydia's mom sees Stiles like this it will be over. She surly seen Stiles car by now, he quickly picks the keys up from the counter and walks towards the door.

"Stiles, please lets just talk about this-" She sees the worry in his eyes, she reaches out to grab his arm but she moves past her.

"Lydia I need to go" He avoids her eye contact, walking towards the door.

"But lets just-" She reaches out to grab his arm-

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Both of them stop. 

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

A confused expression appears on Lydia's face. Why would her mother be knocking on the door, she never knocks she-

"Stiles!" That voice did not belong to Lydia's mother. It was Mr Spectre. Lydia turns around to look at Stiles, his already pale face turing paler. Lydia rushes over to Stiles, putting her fingers on her lip to tell him to be quite. Stiles eyes don't move from the door, his whole body begin to shake again. Lydia's free hand reaches down to grab his hand, causing Stiles to jump. He looks down at her. She gives him a small smile and squeezes his hand.

"Stiles I know your in there I saw your car on the drive, please I just want to talk to you, you rushed out before we had a chance to properly talk." The man sounds very concerned but Lydia knows its all a show. She takes a breath, thinking about what to do. A idea appears in her head. She takes Stiles hand and leads him into the hall way.

"Go upstairs, go into my room and shut the door, don't come down until I say" Her voice is a whisper but the force is still there.

"Lydia no, I'm not leaving you with him-" Stiles squeezes her hand, his face screwed up in concern.

"Stiles he's not going to hurt me" She releases his hand and cups his face "Go upstairs, I promise its going to be okay" She gives him a smile before turning away to go back into the living room, she doesn't get too far before she feels Stiles hand on her wrist stopping her from leaving, she turns around. Stiles walks towards Lydia, his hand moving down her wrist and grabbing her hand.

"Thank you" For the first time since Stiles turned up; he smiled. Lydia gives his hand a final squeezes before walking down the hall way into the living room, the loud thumping still ringing through the house. Lydia takes a large breath before walking over too the door, making sure the chain is still on the door. She opens it. The cold air rushes into her house as well as the smell of booze. Through the gap in the door she sees the man standing there, at this moment all Lydia wants to do is throw open the door and-

"Wheres Stiles?" His breath smells of whiskey, he wasn't drunk but had defiantly had a drink.

"Upstairs" Her voice is emotionless, not giving anything away.

"Please Lydia I need to see him, we got into a horrible fight and I said somethings I should of said and he walked out of the house!" She can see what he's doing, telling her a fake story incase Stiles has told her the truth, trying to convince her Stiles is lying.

"Look I'm sure you are really worried about him but Stiles is kinda upset right now, apparently her got into some fight on the way here"

"What?"

"Yeah, apparently some guys were pissed they didn't get an invite to the party and decided to take it out on Stiles, oh that reminds me I'm so sorry about your house Mr Spectre" Lydia felt sick, she hated having to apologise to the man. He didn't deserve it, but she had to do it in order to get him to leave"

"Oh my god, is he okay?"

"He's pretty beat up but said he doesn't need to go to the hospital, he's asleep at the moment but as soon as he wakes up I'll tell him you came and I'll drive him back to your house" She gives the man a smile, trying to convince him that everything was fine. If he believed that Stiles wasn't going to tell Lydia anything then maybe her would leave. The man doesn't say anything, Lydia can see him thinking it through, still not happy about leaving him here. "When he wakes up I'll give you a ring, I've got the house number?" Lydia hopes this finale bit of reassurance will get the man to leave.

"The second he wakes up-"

"Your be the first one to know" She once again gives him a smile, her hands going into a fist behind the door. Mr Spectre looks at Lydia, he gives a large sigh before moving back away from the door.

"Please make sure he's okay!" The concern in his voice sounds genuine, like he truly does care about Stiles. She understands why so many people can't see whats going on. 

"Of course Sir" She gives a finale quick smile and shuts the door. Lydia takes a large breath, listen for the car to leave. The sound of the engine roars through the street. When the sound of the car is gone Lydia pauses, resting her head against the door. She stays still for a moment before quickly walking out of the living room and walking up the stairs. She walks over to her room, knocking on the door. Silence. She quietly opens the door, peering in. Stiles is sat on the floor, his head leaning against her wardrobe fast asleep. Lydia quietly walks in, crouching down next to Stiles. She places her hand on his shoulder, shaking slightly. Stiles makes no movement. "Stiles?" Her voice seems to wake him, his head rolling forward. "Lets get you to sleep" Lydia puts Stiles arms around her neck, helping him up. Once again Stiles winces, placing his free hand on his ribs, Lydia notes that she needs to check them out tomorrow. 

"Is he gone?" Stiles voice is slurred, still half asleep.

"Yeah he's gone" They finally reach the bed, Lydia carefully lowers him down, grabbing the bed sheets and lifting them over him. Stiles eyes fall close instantly, she looks down at Stiles, he doesn't look scared, or worried or in pain. He looks peaceful. Lydia turns around to go to the spare room, the events of the evening taking there toll on her. 

"Lydia" The voice is barley above a whisper. She turns around to see Stiles, his eyes still close.

"Yeah Stiles?" She takes a step closer to the bed

"You don't have to sleep in the spare room if you don't want to" Once again his eyes don't open. Stiles rolls over on the bed, leaving a spare free.

Lydia pauses, unsure what to do, scared of hurting the boy.

"Don't worry, I'm to tired to try anything" Lydia lets out a small laugh, shaking her head. After all that has happened tonight, Stiles is still able to make jokes. 

"Let me just get changed" Lydia walks over to her wardrobe, grabbing a pair of sweatpants and a long t-shirt. She goes over to her desk, grabbing a make-up wipe, removing the ruined make-up off her face. She grabs a hair band, pulling her hair into a messy bun on top of her head. She walks over to the bed, the large space Stiles made still available. She walks forward and climbs onto the bed, pulling the sheets up to her chin.

"You should put your hair in a bun more often, it looks cute" Stiles turns around in the bed, looking at Lydia.

Lydia gives one of her usual disapproving smiles and turns around in the bed, her back facing Stiles "Night Stiles"  

"Night Ariel" 

Stiles can't help but think back to that first day when Lydia showed up and how things have changed. The nickname once used as a means to annoy the girl now a term of endearment, the girl that thought Stiles was a complete douche and didn't even consider a friend now sleeping next to him in bed. The sound of Lydia's steady breath causing Stiles to relax. He knows that things are far from alright, Lydia still wants to tell people about this and eventually Stiles would have to go back to the man, he would have to explain to Scott and Allison the injuries he's got, the pair still hadn't spoken about the kiss they shared this evening, wether it meant anything or not? But Stiles will deal with all of that tomorrow. The pair both drift off to sleep, the sound of there heartbeats the only noise in the room.

 


	14. Secrets and Lies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the events of the previous night Lydia must decide how to deal with the information, whether to tell someone or to keep it a secret? Stiles has to deal with the consequences of his decisions.

A light beeping noise causes Lydia's to open, looking over she sees her clock on her nightstand, She has a hour to get to school. Lydia rolls onto her back, looking up at the celling, the warm sheets surrounding her. Her messy bun coming lose on her head, a few strands falling in front of her face. A beam of sun creeps through her curtains, causing her to roll onto her side, facing Stiles. The boy with the whiskey eyes. The boy with the cocky smile. The boy she learned had a abusive father, who had spent the night at her house hiding from said father. Lydia carefully moves from her bed, her feat lightly touching the floor. Slowly she slides out of the bed, creeping across the floor towards her wardrobe. She cautiously opens the door, careful not to make a loud noise. She grabs a light blue dress from her cupboard and tip toeing into the bathroom. Closing the room Lydia takes a breath, her head slightly spinning; not form the drink but from the amount of information that is coming back to her, everything that happened last night rushing back. The kiss. The fight. The revel. Lydia places the dress on the counter and jumps into her shower, hoping the warm water will help to clear her mind. Lydia finishes washing her hair and jumps out of the shower, putting her dress on. Quietly opening the door, Lydia peers out, Stiles is still led int he bed, not moving from his position. Slipping through the door Lydia walks over to the desk, quickly applying her make-up, not being as careful as usual, other things on her mind. She shoves her hair up into a high ponytail, letting a few strands fall in front of her face. Grabbing her bag from the back of her chair she makes her way to the door. She pauses, looking back at Stiles, biting her lip, she turns on her feet walking back to her desk. She quickly scribbles down a note on a piece of paper, turing around and walking out of her room, closing the door behind her. Walking down the stairs Lydia's mind is still racing, her shower on temporally clearing her mind. She turns the corner into the kitchen.

"Lydia!" Her mother is stood by the island, a light pink pencil skirt and a white long sleeved shirt. Lydia didn't even hear her mother come home last night. "So sorry I was late last night, work was crazy! I was going to come in and check on your but as soon as my head hit the pillow I was gone!" Her mother gives a little laugh, shaking her head. She turns around a grabs a white mug off the counter holding it out to Lydia. "I made you some coffee, thought you might need it after your party" She gives her daughter a playful wink. 

"Thanks mom" Lydia takes a sip of the coffee, the warm drink making its way down her throat, warming her from the inside. 

"Oh by the way who's car is that outside?" Her mother motions towards the window, outside Stiles silver car parked on the curb. 

"Umm-umm thats" Lydia freezes, her mind going blank "I don't know actually, must be one of the neighbours? Maybe they ran out of room or something?!" Not the best lie Lydia has ever told but it will have to do. She gives her mother a smile before downing the rest of her drink and walking towards the door, she pauses and turns around.

"You at work today?" For a moment she forgot Stiles was still asleep upstairs in her bed, not wanting to leave her mother alone in the house in case she decided to go into Lydia's room.

"Yeah, just going to finish my coffee and then I'll leave" She takes a sip of her coffee and turns the page of the paper in front of her.

"Oh, well I'll wait with you then" She pivots on her heel, walking back towards her mother, leaning on the island.

"I can wait by myself Lydia, your be late for school" She gives her a sweet smile before closing the paper, grabbing her bag off the counter.

"Its fine really, I don't mind" She gives her mother a large smile, looking down at her hands.

"Everything okay Lydia? Her mother gives her a sweet smile, tilting her head to the side.

No. Lydia wants to tell her mother everything, tell her what happened at the party and with Mr Spectre, beg her to do something to help Stiles. "I'm fine, just a little tired." She gives a reassuring smile before grabbing her keys off the side "You coming?" Her mother gives her a smile and puts her mug in the sink before walking over to her daughter, putting her arm around her giving a small squeeze. The pair walk out of the front door, her mother locking up behind them, when they reach the end of the drive Lydia gives her mother a quick kiss on the cheek before  walking towards her car. She opens the door and gets in, her head falling forward to rest on the steering wheel. She didn't want to go to school. She wanted to stay at the house and make sure Stiles was okay, check his wounds but it was be too obvious. Her mother wouldn't let her stay home without a good reason. Luckily after lunch Lydia has a free period so can come back here for the hour, make sure he is okay. she turns the key and starts driving towards school. Lydia pulls into the car park, grabbing her bag and walking out of her car towards the stairs. Lydia sighs, wishing the day was over already. She pulls her phone out of her bag, looking at the screen. She was meant to ring Mr Spectre when Stiles woke up but she obviously wasn't going to do that. Another thought popped into Lydia's head; what if Mr Spectre asks Lydia's mother about what happened last night, if his son was okay? Why Lydia hasn't called? No. He wouldn't ask her mother, she was worrying to much. He wouldn't want to draw attention to what happened. Lydia hears someone shouting behind her, Lydia brings her hand up to her head, rubbing her temples. This was going to be a very long day. She reaches the tops of the stairs and goes to push the door open.

"LYDIA!" A familiar voice shouting her name from behind her. Lydia spins around to see Allison, Scott, Isaac and Erica stood there, all giving her a funny look.   


Lydia takes a deep breath and walks towards the group, a small smile on her face.

"A little out of it there?" Scott gives her a small laugh, his floppy hair moving on his head. 

"Yeah, jus-just a little tired" She brushes a piece of hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear.

"Long night" Erica speaks up, a mischievous smirk on her face.

Lydia gives her a confused expression, crossing her arms over her chest. Allison gives Erica a small jab with her elbow taking a step forward. 

"So how was the party? sorry I kinda ditched you but you and Stiles seemed to be getting on pretty well" She gives Lydia a smile, crossing her arms over her chest, turing around to look at Erica who is also smiling.

"It was fine, turns out Stiles, when he wants to be can be a decent human being" Lydia looks down, trying to check her phone to see if Stiles has called her yet.

"Look at you two! Soon your be best friends!" Scott gives a Lydia a smile, clearly happy that his best friend and Lydia are starting to get on.

"Pretty sure there already more than that" Lydia barley hears it as Erica whispers it under her breath. Look looks away from Scott, giving Erica her best glare, her lip pulled into a thin line, eyebrows knitted together.

"So how pissed was he then?" Isaac comments, clearly talking to Lydia.

"What?" Lydia is beyond confused, her brain trying to process to much information at once.

"Mr Spectre!" Lydia feels her blood go cold at the mention of the name, her tiny fist clenching.

"Yeah I can't believe that happened, we left like an hour before he turned up" Allison shakes her head.

"I bet Stiles got his ass kicked" Isaac jokes. The comment makes Lydia feel sick, turing her head away from the group. It was horrific. Standing around with the group laughing and joking about Stiles and Mr Spectre, like it was one massive joke. She knows that none of them know and to them Mr Spectre is just a strict adoptive dad but now that Lydia knows the truth, everything-

"Lydia?" Erica is looking directly at Lydia, her eye brows raised. "Did you see it?" She repeats the question that Lydia ignored. 

Lydia gathers her thoughts before replying. "Oh yeah, he was pretty pissed off. I offered to help tidy up but he told me to leave" She gives a small shrug, once again looking down at her phone.

"Assuming that he wont be in today? Probably going to spend the day recovering from his hangover!" The group all share a laugh, Lydia gives a small one before checking her phone again.

"So how was the jackasses party?" A voice that see really didn't want to hear today stops the laugh dead in its track.

"Jackson" Erica groans, not hiding her dislike for the boy.

"Erica, nice to see you too!" He gives her a sarcastic smile and walks towards Lydia.

"Didn't get an invite then" Her voice is filled with bitterness. She doesn't even know why the pair hate each other but this boy pisses her off and today is not the day to do that.

"No, no sure if you know but me and stiles aren't that close, unlike you two" He gives her a wink, starting to walk past her. Her hand reaches out and grabs his arm before he can walk away.

"Excuse me?" She puts her hands on her hips, using her classic 'Lydia Matin' glare.

"I heard you and Stilinski got pretty-"

Lydia holds her hands up in front of her. "S weetheart unlike you I don't listen to the mindless gossip that pathetic people like you spread, now I suggest that you walk away and stay away from me or I swear on that pretty little ass of yours I will make your life hell" No one speaks. Lydia turns around, her ponytail hitting the speechless boy in the face. "Time for class guys!" Lydia walks up the rest of the stairs, pushing the doors out of her way, not turning around to see if the group are following her, jus wanting to get as far as way from Jackson as she can. Ahead of her she sees her classroom, she storms towards the door pushing it open and quickly making her way to her seat, sitting down and getting her books out. Not long after Allison and Erica make there way into the class, sitting either side of her. Lydia doesn't look at either of the girls, keeping her head down just wanting to get the day over with. 

The class starts there work and the lesson goes by quickly, however towards the end of the lesson Erica leans over and whisper to Lydia "So are you going to tell us what happened with Stiles or?" Lydia turns he head to look at Erica who is still wearing that mischievous smile she had earlier.

"Nothing happened with Stiles, Jackson was just being a ass" Lydia bitterly whispers back. She really didn't want to talk about her and Stiles, she was to busy thinking about the pairs conversation last night. She still didn't know what to do, whether to tell someone about what was going on. She knew that she should, that its the right thing to do, its what they've always been told to do, but there was something in her mind stopping her from telling someone. Would anyone even believe her? She was the new girl in school and Mr Spectre was a highly respected man. If no one did believe her would she get Stiles in even more trouble, Mr Spectre would know that Stiles had told someone

"Lydia I saw you and Stiles making out in the pool" Erica whispers back. Lydia's head snaps towards Erica who has a large smile on her face, she quickly looks around to Allison who doesn't seem to be listening to the conversation, focused on her work. "She knows and so does basically the whole school" Lydia can feel a large headache coming on.

"We weren't making out it was just a kiss, a stupid drunken kiss, that isn't going to happened again and if anyone else mentions it I swear-" unbeknown to Lydia her voice had considerably risen during her rant.   

"Is there something you girls would like to share with the class? The teacher is facing the class, his round glasses balancing on his nose, a large frown on his face.

"No Sir" Both Lydia and Erica reply in unison

"Well it must be important, seeing as it can't wait till lunch" The teacher is obviously not impressed with the girls. 

"They were talking about the fact Lydia made out with Stiles at his party" A voice calls out from behind Lydia. She quickly turns around to see a boy sitting behind her, she didn't known his name but knew he was a friend of Jacksons

"Did your mother drop you on your head as a child or are you actually that stupid that you seriously think that was a good idea?" Her voice is filled with venom and the boys cocky smile has all but disappeared. 

"That I didn't need to know" The teacher speaks up, turing back to the board. The rest of the lesson went by with no more incidents. After the lesson finished the girls went to there next ones, Lydia quickly walked down the hallways to her Latin room sitting down. Thought out the lesson Lydia kept checking her phone to see if Stiles had called her, as instructed in her note. She was getting anxious. Lydia kept her head down for the rest of her lessons, just wanting to get to lunch so she could go check on Stiles. The bell rang for the lesson to end and Lydia quickly gathered up he things and rushed out of the hall. Lydia had her head down as she walked, pulling her phone out to check if Stiles had texted her. Nothing.

"Not texting you back?" Erica's voice sounded behind her. She really didn't want to see anyone for the group. Not because she was mad at them but because she didn't want to lie to them about why she was going home, it would be much easier to text them a lie than say it to there faces. She turns around to see Erica walking towards her.

"What?" There was a hint of annoyance in her voice.

"You keep checking your phone and keep looking at Stiles name like you want to ring him?" Erica reaches out and points to the phone in Lydia's hand. Lydia didn't think anyone had noticed her constant phone checking but obviously Erica did.

"Erica I know your just trying to be friendly but I would really appreciate it if you just minded your own business okay?" The sentence comes out very quickly, her voice sounding very frustrated. She rubs her temples and looks up at Erica who looks shocked at Lydia's short response. Lydia feels the guilty wash over her, Erica was just being a good friend and Lydia almost bite her head off. Lydia walks over to the girl still rubbing her head. "I'm sorry, that-that was un called for It just been a very stressful weekend and I've kinda got a hangover today and-"

"Its okay, I was kinda prying to be honest" Erica gives Lydia a smile "It just its so obvious that Stiles likes you and I just want him to be happy" Lydia feels a smile appear on her face, finding sweet how much Erica cares about Stiles. "He like my brother and I just want him to be happy and he seems happy when he's with you, and if you don't mind me saying you seem happy when your with him" Erica gives Lydia a small wink and Lydia; for the first time today gives a small smile.

"He's alright I suppose" Lydia shrugs, giving a small smile.

"Yeah, look I know he can kinda be a ass sometimes but under neither theres a really good guys he's just hidden under all the crap he's gone through" A sad smile appears on Erica face, although she doesn't say it Lydia guess Erica is referring to Stiles parents death. This was the hard part, Erica so clearly cared about Stiles and would be willing to do anything to help him, maybe Lydia could tell her, and she could help. Lydia knew she couldn't do that, it would be a betrayal to Stiles, he had begged her not to say anything and she wasn't until she had talk to him. 

"Thanks Erica, listen could you tell Allison that I'm going home for lunch" Lydia looks over to the clock on the wall, checking to see how long she would have with Stiles.

"Sure" The girl gives a finale smile before turning around and walking towards the lunch hall. As soon as Erica is out of sight Lydia hurries down the hall, pushing open the large doors and getting into her car. The journey back to Lydia's house felt long, much longer than normal. The whole time Lydia keep looking down at her phone which was on the passenger seat. She still didn't know what she was going to tell Stiles when he inevitably asks her to not telling anyone about what happened. Lydia shook her head and just focused on getting home. As she pulled into the street she looked for any sign of Mr Spectres car or her mothers. Luckily neither were in sight. Stiles car however was still parked in the same position meaning he hadn't left the house. She parked the car and quickly jumped out, almost running to her door. She rapidly unlocked the door and made her way into the house. Silence. There wasn't a noise in the house and the down stairs looked as if it no one had touched it all day. Lydia walked up the stairs and came to her door. It was still closed, slowly Lydia made her way to it, opening it carefully. She peeped her head around the round to find Stiles still curled up in her bed. Lydia gave a relieved smile at the sight. She walked into the room and stood just in front of bed looking down at Stiles. In the light Lydia could clearly sees Stiles injuries, blood still on his face. Lydia quietly sat on the edge of the bed. She reached over and placed her small hand over Stiles arm. Stiles didn't move so Lydia slightly shock him, careful not to startle him. A groan escapes Stiles mouth as he curls tighter in the bed. She felt bad waking him up, he could sure use the rest but she needed to look at his wounds. 

"Stiles, Stiles? Its Lydia." Her voice is soft and quiet trying to wake Stiles as carefully as she could. Another groan came from Stiles as he rolled over in the bed, his eyes still closed. 

"What time is it?" His voice was barely above a whisper.

"Its about 12, I came back from lunch to check on you, and to clean your wounds" Stiles slowly opened his eyes to look up at Lydia. Carefully he sat up in the bed, a loud groan and wince reminding Stiles of the pain in his ribs. Stiles threw back the covers and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Lydia quickly made her way round the other side of the bed to help Stiles get up, she grabbed Stiles arm and put it around her neck, helping him to the bathroom. Once in the bathroom, Lydia carefully set Stiles down on the toilet lid. She turned around and turned the tap on, grabbing a cloth from the side and placing it under the tap. She turned around and knelt in front of Stiles. The cut on Stile eyebrow leaving a trail of blood. Lydia carefully placed the cloth on Stiles cut, causing him to flinch. "Sorry" Lydia spoke softy as she wiped away the blood from his face.

"Its alright" Stiles spoke up, giving Lydia a small smile. Lydia continued her work in silence, wiping the blood from Stiles face. She reached around and open the cupboard under her sink grabbing the antiseptic cream. She placed the cream on Stiles cutes, feeling his body tense up. Lydia put the cream back under the sink and stood up.

"Okay now lift up your shirt" Lydia spoke up as she washed the cream off her hands.

"Hey I know that kissed was good Lydia but not sure I'm feeling up for-" His voice was considerably differently from earlier, the cockiness back in his voice and although her back is turned she is sure he is wearing a smirk.  

"I meant to look at your ribs" Lydia turns around and points towards Stiles ribs, shaking her head. 

"Oh, well that also makes sense" Stiles replies, rubbing the back of his neck. Lydia walks over to him and kneels in front. 

"You might have fractured a rib so I need to check them out, so off with the shirt Stilinski" Stiles gives a sigh and starts to pull up his shirt, the action obviously causing him pain. Lydia reaches out and helps pull the shirt off. When she finally gets the shirt off Lydia has to look away for a second, the sight shocking her. She looks back at Stiles chest and once again feels the hatred for Mr Spectre raising. On Stiles chest was a large red bruise and on the side where his ribs were was another large red and yellow bruise. Lydia reaches her hand out and lightly places it on Stiles ribs carefully running her hands over Stiles ribcage, checking to make sure they were just bruised and not broken. "Luckily theres no breaks, just badly bruised" As Lydia speaks her hand is still on Stiles ribs. "We need to get some ice on it to keep the swelling down and then take some pain killers to help with the pain" Stiles looks down at Lydia who is carefully looking at his injuries. "I didn't think they were that bad last night, If I did I would of-" Her voice is quite, her eyes not moving from his injuries.

Stiles grabs Lydia's hand which is on his ribs, placing both hands over it. "Hey, hey, don't do that Lydia. I was so high on adrenaline last night I could barley even feel it." Stiles gives Lydia a small smile.

"Okay I'm going to go grab some ice i'll be back in a second." Stiles realises Lydia hand as she walks out of the room to grab some ice. Stiles tries to take a large breath, instantly regretting the decision. The craziness of last night flashing back to Stiles. He didn't know what had made him come to Lydia's, theres just something about being around Lydia that makes Stiles feel calm and relaxed. Stiles was regretting his decision. He had now gotten Lydia involved in his messed up life and had a horrible feeling that she wasn't going to keep his secret. He couldn't blame her, if he found out Scott was being beaten by his dad or anyone for that matter he would do anything he could to help and would definitely want to tell someone. Stiles rubs his head, the knock last night causing Stiles to have a very large headache. Maybe if he fully explained the situation to Lydia then she might-

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Stiles pocket lights up. He had completely forgot his phone was in there. Stiles didn't have to pull the phone out to know who was ringing him, he knew. He carefully stood up from the seat and answered his phone, taking a small breath before hand. 

"Stiles, are you okay?" The voice on the other end sounded very concerned and worried. Stiles had heard this all before. The fake worried voice, and false concern. It was all an act, a show, one which always ended the same.

Stiles voice was void of emotion as he spoke the name. The name of the man that had caused this whole mess "Mr Spectre".

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be continued... Not certain when the next chapter will be up because I'm returning to collage this week but I will try to get it up by next Monday! Hope you guys are enjoying it♥


	15. Going home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles has a tough choice to make which could effect Lydia and Stiles relationship

There was silence at the end of the phone, no words being spoken, no breathing just silence. Stiles didn't say anything, unsure what to say, what could he say? That he missed him? He didn't. That he wanted to come back? He didn't. That he loved him? He didn't.

"Stiles, i'm so glad your okay, I've been ringing you all day but you haven't answered? Are you okay?" The man sounded concerned, Stiles always hated this bit, it was the worse, worse than the beatings, the yelling the screaming. 

"Stiles? Are you okay?" Every time something like this happened it always ended the same way, it was like they were actors in a show following a script, never wavering never changing. They would fight, Mr Spectre would apologies and swear it would happen again and Stiles would inevitably believe him and they would go back to playing happy family, then it would repeat, sometimes days later sometimes weeks but one thing was always certain, it would happen again. Stiles could hear Mr Spectre talking on the end of the other line, asking if he was okay and if he was coming home, he always asked this, Stiles didn't know why, Mr Spectre had made sure that Stiles wouldn't be able to leave without being sent right back to him. Sometimes Stiles would dream about standing up to the man, telling him he wasn't go to take this anymore and how he deserved more, then Stiles would walk out of the house and never come back, never see the man again, but it was just a dream. Stiles would never leave, where would he go? The sad truth, the one that Stiles never thought off but pushed to the back of his mind was the Mr Spectre was all he had, he has no mother, no father, no family. Sure he had friends and was popular but friends leave, Mr Spectre wouldn't, he couldn't, the pair were bound by this secret they shared. Stiles knew it was ridiculous, Mr Spectre wasn't family, he wasn't a friend, but he was the man that clothed Stiles, fed him and payed for his things, looked after him while he was ill, that must count for something right? He didn't know, maybe thats why he always went back? Maybe because over Stiles life, he had lost so much so much had been taken from him. He would just be getting use to life when it would knock him down again. It wasn't. He knew why he always went back, why he stayed with the man that had caused so much pain and misery but he would never admit it, too ashamed to. 

"Stiles if you don't say something I will come over and get you I'm really worried about you!?" Was he? He never knew. Sometimes the man showed affection, the time he got 100% on his exam, he took Stiles to watch a baseball game and they got hot dogs after, they then came home and watched a film in front of the TV and Stiles feel asleep on the couch. The time Stiles broke his arm playing lacrosse with Scott and Mr Spectre rushed from work and waited with him at the hospital while he got a cast put on it, he then took him home and the pair watched star wars in front of the TV while eating popcorn. Sometimes he was like a father and Stiles would forget about the time Mr Spectre put a hole in the wall after missing Stiles face or when Stiles spent two hours getting stitches after he 'fell' onto the glass coffee table and gashes his arm open. He could be a cruel man, he normally was, but sometimes he was kind and thats what made it hard. If the man was wicked all the time maybe Stiles would be able to leave, having no reason to stay. Maybe thats why he did it, to keep Stiles around or maybe he generally did care about Stiles, he didn't know?

"Okay thats it I'm coming to get you!" Stiles could hear shuffling on the other end of the line, papers moving, a brief case closing. Stiles snapped back into it, not wanting Mr Spectre to turn up at Lydia house.

"No,no its okay I'm here, sorry I just-just sort of zoned out, still pretty tired" He was, the last two nights had taken all the fight out of Stiles, he could happily sleep for weeks the last two days feeling like a week. Mr Spectre didn't reply, but the moving around had stopped, now there was just silence. "Theres no need to come and get me its fine, I'm fine" Was he?

"You haven't answered your phone all day?" There was less concern in his voice now, but it was still there.

"Yeah sorry I was asleep" Stiles stands up and walks out of the bathroom into Lydias room. It suddenly dawned on Stiles that he was stood in Lydia's room. He had been here almost a whole day and hadn't even looked around. Her room was exactly like Stiles imagined it would be like (not that he thought about her room or being in it of course) Her walls were covered in photos, from her old school and city she guessed. One frame contained a photo of Lydia when she was much younger, her strawberry blond hair in tight little curls, parted in two sides in pig tails. Stiles gave a little chuckle at the picture. Along the wall is another photo of Lydia, a much different one.

"Stiles?" The name sounding like a question, once again Stiles had drifted off forgetting the man was on the other end of the phone, Lydia had that effect on him, making him forget about everyone else.

"I've felt better to be honest" Stiles admitted with a sigh, it was true. Even though Stiles had spent the best part of the day asleep he still felt like shit.

"Stiles-i'm-i'm so sorry for what happened the other night. I had had a bit to drink I was tired. I know this doesn't change what happened but I need you to know how sorry I am" Stiles wasn't surprised by this. After a fight this comment usually followed. The same promise is made every time and the same promise is broke every time. Stiles didn't say anything, he usually didn't, Stiles would just smile and they would carry on.

"Are you coming home?" That did surprise Stiles.

"Do I have a choice?" This also surprised Stiles, maybe it was because he was tired and fed up.

"Stiles don't say that-"

"Its true thought I mean even if I wanted to leave you wouldn't let me, would you?" Stiles was going off Script, making up his own. He wasn't just going to nod and agree this time, he was going to stand up for himself.

"No but thats because I love you and don't want you to leave Stiles, we can fix this I know we can we just have to work together" Stiles rubbed his forehead, the conversation becoming much more confusing than he had hoped. He hadn't planned this far ahead.

"Thats what you always say-"

"This time I mean it I promise Stiles. Your all I've got Stiles, and I'm all you've got. Please don't leave me" And there it was, the last bit of resolve Stiles had was taken, broke down, because it was true. Mr Spectre was all Stiles had left. Stiles was eighteen now. He wouldn't go back into the foster care, he was too old. He would have to look after himself, be by himself. Thats was he was scared off, why he never left. He didn't wanted to be alone. Stiles felt something drip onto his lip, he realised it was a tear. He hadn't even realised he had began to cry. Stiles quickly wiped the tear off his face, taking a deep breath.

"Let me just get ready and I'll be home" Stiles voice was void of any emotion, he was completely broken at this point. Tired of fighting, just wanting to sleep. Thats why he always won, Mr Spectre was able to break down Stiles, there was no point fighting.

"When i'm back from work we can go out and get a burger? What do you say?" The man sounded cheerful, like he had won, which he had. Stiles was so determined to change the pattern, change the script but he had failed. 

"I'll see you back at the house" With that Stiles put the phone down, shoving it in his pocket. Stiles ran his hands down his face, pinching the bridge of his nose, the stress of the last two days was begin to take its toll on Stiles. 

"Your going back" The voice caused Stiles to jump. He spun around to see Lydia stood in the door way. Her tiny frame leaning against the door frame. In her hand a ice pack which had half melted, her emerald green eyes filled with tears.

"Lydia-" Stiles took a step forward but Lydia beat him to it, throwing the ice pack onto the bed, she marched towards him, her arms crossed over her chest.

"How can you back after what he did!" She was clearly distraught over the news and Stiles couldn't blame her, but he had his reasons and he needed her to know why.

"Look it wont happen again-" Stiles attempt at consoling her didn't work, before he could finish his sentence she interpreted.  

"Did he say that?" Her voice sounded soft, like she was talking to a child.

"Yeah and I believe him okay!" His voice was firm, he didn't like being spoken to as a child. He knew what he was doing. Stiles walked past her into the bathroom the sound of her footsteps following her "I shouldnt of thrown the stupid party in the first place I was angry-"

"No, no, no, you don't get to blame yourself for this this isn't your fault" Her voice was no longer soft but now firm, she pointed her finger at his chest clearly unimpressed at his comment which he didn't understand. It was his fault, he knew it was a bad idea to throw the party but he did it any way. Its what he did. "You can't go back Stiles you just can't-" She reached out and placed her tiny hand on his arm, her emerald green eyes looking up at him. They were different than when he first saw them, there was a sadness in them that wasn't there before. He did that, Stiles problems had now become Lydia's, he never wanted that. He wanted to protect her from his life.

"Lydia I really appericate your help I do but this is my life and I know what I'm doing?" He grabbed his shirt from the sink. Stiles careful pulled the top over his head, pulling it down. The pain in Stiles ribs coming back, like a stabbing from the inside.

"Do you? because your about to go back to a man who almost beat you unconscious yesterday! look at yourself Stiles!" Lydia pointed to the cloth on the sink that was stained with Stiles blood. She took a step forward and blocked his exit from the bathroom. "You-you could barley stand yesterday-" Stiles went to open his mouth but Lydia stopped him "I can't let you go back to him" 

Stiles head snapped to her, his frustration with this conversation getting the better of him "Let me? Let me?!-" Stiles shoved past Lydia walking into his room storming out of her door down the stairs. Stiles head was spinning at this point, whether it was from anger, frustration or tiredness. He looked around the living room for his car keys but he couldn't find them, Stiles fist balled in frustration. Stiles spun around, once again Lydia was stood there watching Stiles. She paused before walking over the kitchen draw and opening it, looking into it before pulling out his keys. Stiles walked over the Lydia and went to snatch keys but Lydia's reactions was too quick. She quickly pulled the keys out of his reach.

"Please let me help you" Her voice was soft and quite, almost like a plea. Stiles looked down at her and saw a tear escape her eye and make its way down her check. Guilt and anger swelled inside of Stiles before it took over. Stiles quickly reached forward and managed to grab the keys, leaning close to Lydia's face.

"I don't need your help" With that Stiles turn around and walked out of the door, slamming it behind him hard.

The ride home was a blur, Stiles can barely remember it. He quickly parked his car up and went inside, throwing open the door and walking in. The house was spotless, clearly Mr Spectre had called the cleaner in to tidy up after the party. Stiles walked up the stairs into his room closing the door behind him and leaning on it taking a breath. Stiles took a couple of steps forward and fell onto his bed wanting to sleep the day away, in fact the last two days. Stiles has had some pretty bad days and the last two were up there. Stiles rolled over on his back looking up at his celling. He was finally able to think about the last two days and what had really happened, what he had lost. Stiles was able to think about the collage application, the only place he wanted to go to having rejected him, Stiles had no back up plan, he didn't know what he as going to do. He had made his situation with Mr Spectre even worse, and in the process revealing to Lydia what went on at the Spectre house hold getting her involved in the mess which was his life. She was just trying to help him, cleaning his cuts and bruises and letting him stay at hers and how had he repaid her? By storming out of her house. Lydia was no longer just the hot fierce girl he had meet a couple of weeks ago, she was now someone he truly cared about and he had lost her. The image of tears spilling over her eyes because of him stuck, indented in his mind. The warm tears spilled over the edger of Stiles eyes making there way down his cheeks. Stiles didn't have the energy to wipe away the tears, instead he closed his eyes and thought of little Ariel, curly pig tails and a wide cheesy grin. No sadness in her eyes, just happiness. Stiles breathing evened out and he drifted off to sleep, the feelings of anger, frustration and sadness fading into nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is a little bit shorter than usual but I hope you enjoy it guys! Not sure when the next one will be up but it will probably be next week!

**Author's Note:**

> So...what did you guys think!? Let me know! :)


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